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Chicago  %ieiont<xt  ^ocktfe 

COLLECTION 


Vol.  V. 


Chicago   Historical  Society's  Collection. — Vol.  V. 


THE 


SETTLEMENT  OF  ILLINOIS 


1778-1830 


BY 

ARTHUR   CLINTON    BOGGESS,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  History  and   political  Science  in  Pacific  University;    a  Director 

of  the  Oregon  Historical  Society;    sometime  Harrison  Scholar  in 

American  History  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania; 

sometime  Fellow  in  American  History  in  the 

University  of  Wisconsin 


CHICAGO 
PUBLISHED     BY    THE     SOCIETY 

1  908 


COMMITTEE   OF   PUBLICATION: 

Otto  L.  Schmidt, 
Samuel  H.  Kerfoot,  Jr., 
George  Merryweather. 


Copyright  by  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  1908. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Author's  Preface,             -----  5 

Chapter  I. 

The  County  of  Illinois,               ...  -             9 

Chapter  II. 

The  Period  of  Anarchy  in  Illinois,        -             -  -           40 

Chapter  III. 

I.    The  Land  and   Indian  Questions,             -  71 

II.    Government  Succeeding  Period  of  Anarchy,  -           82 

III.  Obstacles   to   Immigration,  90 

Chapter  IV. 

I.    Illinois  During  the  Territorial  Period,      -  -           99 

II.    Territorial  Government  of  Illinois,            -  -         in 

III.    Transportation  and  Settlement,     -             -  -         118 

IV.  Life  of  the  Settlers,           -             -             -  -         128 

Chapter  V. 
The  First  Years  of  Statehood;   The  Indian  and  Land 

Questions,         -             -            -            -  -         134 

The  Government  and  Its  Representatives,         -  -         145 

Transportation,                -             -             -             -  153 

Life  of  the  People,         -            -             -             -  -         165 

Chapter  VI. 

Slavery  in  Illinois  as  Affecting  Settlement,       -  -         176 

Chapter  VII. 

Successful  Frontiersmen,             -             -             -  191 

Works  Consulted:     I.    Sources,               -            -  -         213 

II.    Secondary  Works,           -  -        234 

Index,     -------         257 


r 

<-3 


MAPS. 

Page. 

Collot's  Map  of  the  Country  of  the  Illinois,  1796,  In  pocket. 

Indian  Cessions,  1795- 1809,               ...  72 

11             11           1809-1818,               -             -             -  104 

11             11           1818-1830,               -             -             .  136 

Chart  of  Vote  for  and  against  a  Convention  to  revise 

the  Constitution,  1824,                -             -   •         -  184 


PREFACE. 

IN  the  work  here  presented,  an  attempt  has  been  made  to 
apply  in  the  field  of  history,  the  study  of  types  so  long  in 
use  in  biological  science.  If  the  settlement  of  Illinois  had  been 
an  isolated  historical  fact,  its  narration  would  have  been  too 
provincial  to  be  seriously  considered,  but  in  many  respects,  the 
history  of  this  settlement*  is  typical  of  that  of  other  regions. 
The  Indian  question,  the  land  question,  the  transportation  prob- 
lem, the  problem  of  local  government;  these  are  a  few  of  the 
classes  of  questions  wherein  the  experience  of  Illinois  was  not 
unique. 

This  work  was  prepared  while  the  writer  was  a  student  in  the 
University  of  Wisconsin.  The  first  draft  was  critically  and  care- 
fully read  by  Prof.  Frederick  Jackson  Turner,  of  that  University, 
and  the  second  draft  was  read  by  Prof.  John  Bach  Mc Master, 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  In  addition  to  suggestions 
received  from  my  teachers,  valuable  aid  has  been  rendered  by 
Miss  Caroline  M.  Mcllvaine,  the  librarian  of  the  Chicago  His- 
torical Society,  who  placed  at  my  disposal  her  wide  knowledge 
of  the  sources  of  Illinois  history. 

The  omission  of  any  reference  in  this  work  to  the  French 
manuscripts,  found  by  Clarence  W.  Alvord,  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  at  the  time  they  were  found,  my  work  was  so  nearly  completed 
that  it  was  loaned  to  Mr.  Alvord  to  use  in  the  preparation  of 
his  article  on  the  County  of  Illinois,  while  the  press  of  profes- 
sional duties  has  been  such  that  a  subsequent  use  of  the  manu- 
scripts has  been  impracticable. 

Arthur  C.  Boggess. 
Pacific  University, 

Forest  Grove,  Oregon. 
September  14,  1907. 


SETTLEMENT  OE  ILLINOIS 

CHAPTER    I. 
The  County  of  Illinois 

AN  Act  for  establishing'  the  County  of  Illinois,  and  for 
l.  the  more  effectual  protection  and  defence  thereof, 
passed  both  houses  of  the  Virginia  legislature  on  Decem- 
ber 9,  177S.1     The   new  county  was  to  include  the  inhabi- 

1.  "Jour.  II.  of  Del.,"  Va.,  Oct.  Sess.,  177S,  106-7;  "Jour,  of  Senate,"  Va., 
Oct.  Sess.,  1778,  52. 

Erroneous  statements  concerning  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  County  of 
Illinois  have  been  made  by  Winsor,  "Westward  Movement,"  122;  Poole,  in 
Winsor,  "Narrative  and  Ci it.  Hist,  of  Am.,"  VI.,  729;  Thwaites, "How  George 
Rogers  Clark  Won  the  Northwest,"  64 ;  Boyd,  in  "Am.  Hist.  Rev., "IV.,  623; 
Mason,  in  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  286;  Pirtle,  "Clark's  Campaign  in 
the  111., "5;  Moore,  "The  Northwest  Under  Three  Flags,"  220;  Wallace, 
"Hist,  of  111.  and  La.  Under  French  Rule,"  402  ;  Butler, "Hist,  of  Ky.,"  1SJ6 
ed.,  64;  and  others.  Roosevelt's  indefinite  statement  that  the  county  was 
formed  "in  the  fall  of  177S" — "Winning  of  the  West,  "  II.,  168 — is  technically 
correct.  Kate  Mason  Rowland  truthfully  says — "George  Mason,"  I.,  307,308 — 
that  a  committee  was  ordered  to  prepare  a  bill  for  the  formation  of  the  county, 
on  November  19,  1778,  and  that  such  a  bill  was  presented  on  November  30. 
Butterfield  says — "George  Rogers  Clark's  Conquest  of  the  111.,"  6S1-6  —  that 
the  Act  was  passed  between  the  19th  of  November  and  the  12th  of  December, 
177S.  It  is  true  that  the  bill  in  its  final  amended  form  passed  both  houses  on 
December  9,  was  signed  by  the  Speaker  of  the  Senate  on  December  17,  and 
subsequently,  if  at  all,  by  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates.  On  the 
12th  of  December,  Governor  Patrick  Henry  issued  three  important  sets  of' 
instructions  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Act  creating  the  County 
of  Illinois.  As  the  signing  of  the  bill  by  the  Speakers  was  mandatory  after 
its  passage,  it  is  easy  to  understand  the  issuance  of  these  instructions  previous 
to  the  signing.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  conceive  that  Governor  Henrv,  who 
showed  marked  interest  in  the  Western  frontier,  should  first  have  begun  to 
issue  orders  at  least  six  weeks  after  the  county  was  formed,  as  is  implied  by 
the  date  commonly  given  for  its  formation.  For  the  legislative  history  of  the 
act,' see  "Jour.  H.'of  Del.,"  Va.,  Oct.  Sess.,  1778,  65,  72,  79-80,  91,  96,  106-7; 
"Jour,  of  Senate, "  Va.,  Oct.  Sess.,  1778,  48,  49,  51.  52,  53,  70-1. 
2  9 


10  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

tants  of  Virginia,  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  but  its  location 
was  not  more  definitely  prescribed.1 

The  words  "for  the  more  effectual  protection  and  defence 
thereof"  in  the  title  of  the  Act  were  thoroughly  appropri- 
ate. The  Indians  were  in  almost  undisputed  possession  of 
the  land  in  Illinois,  save  the  inconsiderable  holdings  of  the 
French.  Some  grants  and  sales  of  large  tracts  of  land  had 
been  made.  In  1769,  John  Wilkins,  British  commandant 
in  Illinois,  granted  to  the  trading-firm  of  Baynton, 
Wharton  and  Morgan,  a  great  tract  of  land  lying  between 
the  Kaskaskia  and  the  Mississippi  rivers.  The  claim 
to  the  land  descended  to  John  Edgar,  who  shared  it  with 
John  Murray  St. Clair,  son  of  Gov.  Arthur  St. Clair.  The 
claim  was  filed  for  13,986  acres,  but  was  found  on  survey 
to  contain  23,900  acres,  and  was  confirmed  by  Gov.  St. Clair. 
At  a  later  examination  of  titles,  this  claim  was  rejected 
because  the  grant  was  made  in  the  first  instance  counter 
to  the  king's  proclamation  of  1763,  and  because  the  con- 
firmation by  Gov.  St. Clair  was  made  after  his  authority 
ceased  and  was  not  signed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  North- 
west Territory.2  In  1773,  William  Murray  and  others, 
subsequently  known  as  the  Illinois  Land  Company,  bought 
two  large  tracts  of  land  in  Illinois  from  the  Illinois  Indians. 
In  1775,  a  great  tract  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  Wabash 
was  similarly  purchased  by  what  later  became  the  Wabash 
Land  Company.  The  purchase  of  the  Illinois  Company 
was  made  in  the  presence,  but  without  the  sanction,  of  the 
British  officers,  and  Gen.  Thomas  Gage  had  the  Indians 
re-convened  and  the  validity  of  the  purchase  expressly 
denied.     These  large  grants  were  illegal,  and  the  Indians 

1.  "Jour.  II.  of  Del."  Va., Oct.  Sess.,  1778,  72 ;" Herring's  Statutes, "  IX.,  553. 

2.  "Public  Lands,"  II.,  204,  206-9. 


THE    COUNTY    OF    ILLINOIS.  I  I 

were  not  in  consequence  disposcssed  of  them.1  Thus  far, 
the  Indians  of  the  region  had  been  undisturbed  by  white 
occupation.  British  landholders  were  few  and  the  French 
clearings  were  too  small  to  affect  the  hunting-grounds, 
French  and  British  alike  were  interested  in  the  fur  trade. 
A  French  town  was  more  suited  to  be  the  center  of  an 
Indian  community  than  to  become  a  point  on  its  periphery, 
for  here  the  Indians  came  for  religious  instruction,  provis- 
ions, fire-arms,  and  fire-water.  The  Illinois  Indian  of 
1778  had  been  degraded  rather  than  elevated  by  his  con- 
tact with  the  whites.  The  observation  made  by  an  acute 
French  woman  of  large  experience,  although  made  at 
another  time  and  place,  was  applicable  here.  She  said 
that  it  was  much  easier  for  a  Frenchman  to  learn  to  live 
like  an  Indian  than  for  an  Indian  to  learn  to  live  like  a 
Frenchman.2 

1.  The  Illinois  and  Wabash  Land  companies,  which  had  several  members 
in  common,  united  in  1780.  After  a  long  series  of  memorials  to  Congress, 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  1S23,  decided  that  "a  title  to  land, 
under  grant  to  private  individuals,  made  by  Indian  tribes  or  nations,  north- 
west of  the  river  Ohio,  in  1773  and  1775,  can  not  be  recognized  in  the  courts 
of  the  United  States" — 8  "  Wheaton,"  543-605.  In  general  see:  "Pub. 
Lands,"  I.,  24,  27,  72,74,  160,189,  301;  II.,  10S-20,  13S,  253;  "Sen.  Jour.," 
1793—99,  317,  326;  Ibid.,  "2d  Cong., "165  ;  "Va.  Calendar  State  Papers,"  I., 
314;  "Jour,  of  Cong.,"  III.,  676-7,  68 1;  IV.,  23;  "An  Account  of  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  111.  and  Ouabache  Land  Companies,"  1-55,  Phil'a,  1796;  "Memo- 
rial of  the  111.  and  Wabash  Land  Company,"  1-26,  Phil'a,  1797;  "Memorial 
of  the  111.  and  Ouabache  Land  Companies, "  1S02,  1-20;  "An  Account  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  111.  and  Ouabache  Land  Company,"  1-74,  Phil'a,  1S03; 
"Memorial  of  the  United  111.  and  Wabash  Land  Companies,"  1-48,  Baltimore, 
1816.  For  a  map  of  the  claims,  see  "Map  of  the  State  of  Ivy.  with  the  Adjoin- 
ing Territories,"  1794,  pub.  by  H.  D.  Symonds;  also  a  copy  of  the  same  pub- 
lished by  Smith,  Reid  and  Wayland,  in  1795;  and  "States  of  America,"  by 
J.  Russell,  London,  C.  Dilly  and  G.  G.  &  J.  Robinson,  1799.  The  last  map 
gives  the  claims  of  the  111.,  Wabash,  and  N.J.  companies,  respectively,  the 
others,  the  claims  of  the  last  two  only.  All  references  here  given  are  to  mate- 
rial to  be  found  in  the  libraries  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society  and  of  the 
State  Hist.  Soc.  of  Wis. 

2.  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation,  of  Quebec,  in  1668.      In  "Glimpses 


12  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

In  point  of  numbers  and  of  occupied  territory, the  French 
population  was  trifling  in  comparison  with  the  Indian.  In 
iy66-6j,  the  white  inhabitants  of  the  region  were  estima- 
ted at  about  two  thousand.1  Some  five  years  later,2  Kas- 
kaskia  was  reported  as  having  about  five  hundred  white 
and  between  four  and  five  hundred  black  inhabitants; 
Prairie  duRocher,  one  hundred  whites  and  eighty  negroes; 
Fort  Chartres,  a  very  few  inhabitants;  St. Philips,  two  or 
three  families;  and  Cahokia,  three  hundred  whites  and 
eighty  negroes.  At  the  same  time,  there  was  a  village  of 
the  Kaskaskia  tribe  with  about  two  hundred  and  ten  per- 
sons, including  sixty  warriors,  three  miles  north  of  Kas- 
kaskia, and  a  village  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  warriors 
of  the  Peoria  and  Mitchigamia  Indians,  one  mile  northwest 
of  Fort  Chartres.  It  is  said  of  these  Indians:  "They  were 
formerly  brave  and  warlike,  but  are  degenerated  into  a 
drunken  and  debauched  tribe,  and  so  indolent,  as  scarcely 
to  procure  a  sufficiency  of  Skins  and  Fairrs  to  barter  for 
clothing,"  and  a  pastoral  letter  of  August  7,  1767,  from  the 
Bishop  of  Quebec  to  the  inhabitants  of  Kaskaskia  shows 
the  character  of  the  French.  The  French  are  told  that 
if  they  will  not  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  vicar- 
general — Father  Meurin,  pastor  of  Cahokia — cease  to  marry 
without  the  intervention  of  the  priest,  and  cease  to  absent 
themselves  from  church  services,  they  will  be  abandoned 
by  the  bishop  as  unworthy  of  his  care.3    Two  years  earlier, 

of  the  Monastery."   "Scenes  from  the  Hist,  of  the  Ursulines  of  Quebec," . 

1639-1839,  "by  a  Member  of  the  Community,"  90.  Charlevoix,  "Histoire  de 
la  Nouvelle -France,"  III.,  322,  expressed  a  similar  opinion  in  1721,  and 
Collot,  "Journey  in  N.  A.  ,"L,  232-3,  shows  that  the  Illinois  French  of  1796-7 
were  a  case  in  point. 

1.  Pittman,  "European  Settlements  on  the  Miss.,"  55.     See  pp.    42,    44,. 
45,  47,  48,  for  the  settlement  in  detail. 

2.  Hutchins,  "Topographical  Desc.  of  Va. ,"  36-8. 

3.  "Mandements  des  Eveques  de  Quebec, "  II.,  1741- 1806,  205-6. 


THE    COUNTY    OF    ILLINOIS.  1 3 

George  Croghan  had  visited  Vincennes,  of  which  he  wrote: 
"I  found  a  village  of  about  eighty  or  ninety  French  fami- 
lies settled  on  the  east  side  of  this  river  [Wabash],  being 
one  of  the  finest  situations  that  can  be  found.  .  .  .  The 
French  inhabitants,  hereabouts,  are  an  idle,  lazy  people,  a 
parcel  of  renegadoes  from  Canada,  and  are  much  worse 
than  the  Indians."1  Although  slave-holders,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  French  were  almost  abjectly  poor.  Illiter- 
acy was  very  common  as  is  shown  by  the  large  proportion 
who  signed  legal  documents  by  their  marks.2  The  people 
had  been  accustomed  to  a  paternal  rule  and  had  not 
become  acquainted  with  English  methods  during  the  few 
years  of  British  rule.  Such  deeds  as  were  given  during 
the  French  period  were  usually  written  upon  scraps  of 
paper,  described  the  location  of  the  land  deeded  either 
inaccurately  or  not  at  all,  and  were  frequently  lost.3  Land 
holdings  were  in  long  narrow  strips  along  the  rivers.4 

The  country  was  physically  in  a  state  of  almost  primeval 
simplicity.  The  chief  highways  were  the  winding  rivers, 
although  roads,  likewise  winding,  connected  the  various 
settlements.  These  roads  were  impassable  in  times  of 
much  rain.  All  settlements  were  near  the  water,  living  on 
a  prairie  being  regarded  as  impossible  and  living  far  from 
a    river    as    at    least  impracticable.5      The    difficulties    of 

1.  Thvvaites,  "Early  Western  Travels,"  I.,  141,  reprint  of  Croghan's  Jour, 

2.  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll., "IV.,  165;  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Tub.,"  II.,  513-4. 

3.  "Public  Lands, "  I.,  10. 

4.  Two  of  the  many  maps  illustrating  this  are  in  "Pub.  Lands,"  II.,  facing 
IS3)  r95-  A  number  of  maps  in  Hopkins',  "The  Home  Lots  of  the  Early 
Settlers  of  the  Providence  Plantations,"  especially  the  one  following  page  17, 
show  that  the  same  form  of  holdings  existed  in  Providence,  R.  I.  For  reasons 
for  this  form,  see  the  note  by  Emma  Helen  Blair,  in  Thwaites',  "Jesuit  Rela- 
tions," IV.,  268-9.  Stiles,  "Ancient  Windsor,"  I.,  149,  has  a  map  showing 
such  holdings  in  Windsor,  Conn.,  1633-1650. 

5.  Monroe,    "Writings,"  I.,    117;    "Ind.  Hist,  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,   483-92; 


14  SETTLEMENT    OE    ILLINOIS. 

George  Rogers  Clark  in  finding  his  way,  overland,  from  the 
Ohio  River  to  Kaskaskia  and  Vincennes  on  his  awful  winter 
march,  are  such  as  must  manifestly  have  confronted  any- 
one who  wished  to  go  over  the  same  routes  at  the  same 
season  of  the  year. 

Wild  animals  were  abundant.  A  quarter  of  a  century 
after  the  Revolution,  two  hunters  killed  twenty- five  deer 
before  nine  in  the  morning  near  the  Illinois  settlements.1 
In  1787,  the  country  between  Vincennes  and  Kaskaskia 
abounded  in  buffalo,  deer,  and  bear.2  For  years,  the  chase 
furnished  a  large  part  of  the  provisions.  The  raising  of 
hogs  was  rendered  difficult  by  the  presence  of  wolves. 
Game-birds  were  plentiful,  and  birds  were  sometimes  a 
pest  because  of  their  destruction  of  corn  and  smaller  grains 
and  even  of  mast. 

An  early  traveler  wrote  in  1796:  "The  province  of  the 
Illinois  is,  perhaps,  the  only  spot  respecting  which  travelers 
have  given  no  exaggerated  accounts;  it  is  superior  to  any 
description  which  has  been  made,  for  local  beauty,  fer- 
tility, climate,  and  the  means  of  every  kind  which  nature 
has  lavished  upon  it  for  the  facility  of  commerce."3  The 
wide-spreading  prairies  added  to  the  beauty  of  the 
country.  Land  which  now  produces  one  hundred  bushels 
of  corn  to  the  acre  must  have  been  capable  of  producing 
wonderful  crops  at  the  beginning  of  its  cultivation.  Coal 
was  not  known  to  exist  in  great  quantities  in  the  region 
nor  was  its  use  as  a  fuel  yet  known. 

Hutchins,  "Topographical  Desc.  of  Va.,"  map  facing  41  ;  Collot,  "A 
Journey  in  N.  A.,"  I.,  239-42,  describes  the  roads  in  Illinois  in  1796,  and 
plate  2S  of  the  accompanying  atlas  gives  an  excellent  map,  q.  v.  in  pocket. 

1.  "Draper  Coll.,  111.  MSS.,"  99. 

2.  Ilarmar  to  Sec.  of  War  from  Fort  Harmar,  Nov.  24,  1787 — "St. 
Clair  Papers,"  II.,  30-1. 

3.  Collot,  "A  Journey  in  N.  A.,"  I.,  233. 


THE   COUNTY    OF   ILLINOIS.  1 5 

Such  was  the  country  and  such  the  people  now  organ- 
ized into  the  County  of  Illinois.1  The  Act  establishing  the 
county  provided  that  the  governor  and  council  should 
appoint  a  county-lieutenant  or  commandant-in-chief, 
who  should  appoint  and  commission  as  many  deputy- 
commandants,  militia  officers,  and  commissaries  as  were 
needed.  The  religion,  civil  rights,  property  and  law  of 
the  inhabitants  should  be  respected.  The  people  of  the 
county  should  pay  the  salaries  of  such  officers  as  they  had 
been  accustomed  to,  but  officers  with  new  duties,  including 
the  county-lieutenant,  were  to  be  paid  by  Virginia.  The 
governor  and  council  might  send  five  hundred  troops,  paid 
by  Virginia,  to  defend  Illinois.  Courts  were  to  be  estab- 
lished with  judges  elected  by  the  people,  although  the 
judges  of  other  county- courts  of  Virginia  were  appointed 
by  the  governor  and  council.2 

While  Gov.  Patrick  Henry  was  writing  instructions  con- 
cerning the  organization  of  government  in  Illinois,  the 
British  general,  Hamilton,  was  marching  to  take  Vin- 
cennes.  Henry  did  not  know  this  particular  fact,  but  he 
had  a  keen  perception  of  the  difficulties,  both  civil  and 
military,  which  awaited  the  county.  On  December  12, 
1778,  without  waiting  for  the  formal  signing  of  the  act 
creating  the  county,  he  wrote  instructions  to  George 
Rogers  Clark,  to  Col.  John  Todd,  jr.,  and  to  Lieut.  -  Col. 
John  Montgomery.  Clark  was  instructed  to  retain  the 
command  of  the  troops,  then  in  the  Illinois  country,  and 
to  assume  command  of  five  other  companies,  soon  to  be 
sent  out.3     Col.  Todd  was  appointed  county-lieutenant  or 

1.  At  the  November  session  of  1738,  Virginia  had  formed  the  County  of 
Augusta,  which  technically  included  the  Illinois  country — "Herring's  Stat- 
utes," V.,  78-80.  For  a  map,  see  Waddell,  "Annals  of  Augusta  Co.,  Va.," 
frontispiece. 

2.  "  Hening's  Statutes,"  IX.,   117,  552-5;  V.,  489,  491. 

3.  Henry,  "Life  of  Patrick  Henry,"  III.,  209-18. 


1 6  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

commandant.  His  instructions  contained  much  wise 
direction.  He  was  to  take  care  to  cultivate  and  conciliate 
the  affections  of  the  French  and  Indians,  to  cooperate  with 
Clark  and  give  the  military  department  all  the  aid  pos- 
sible, to  use  the  French  against  the  British,  if  the  French 
were  willing,  but  otherwise  to  remain  on  the  defensive,  to 
inculcate  in  the  people  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
liberty,  to  see  that  the  inhabitants  had  justice  done  them 
for  any  injuries  from  the  troops.  A  neglect  of  this  last 
instruction,  it  was  pointed  out,  might  be  fatal.  "Consider 
yourself  as  at  the  head  of  the  civil  department,  and  as 
such  having  the  command  of  the  militia,  who  are  not  to 
be  under  the  command  of  the  military,  until  ordered 
out  by  the  civil  authority  and  act  in  conjunction  with 
them."  An  express  was  to  be  sent  to  Virginia  every 
three  months  with  a  report.  A  letter  to  the  Spanish 
commandant  at  Ste.  Genevieve  was  inclosed,  and  Todd 
was  told  to  be  very  friendly  to  him.1  Col.  Montgomery, 
then  in  Virginia,  was  ordered  to  recruit  men  to  reenforce 
Clark.  "As  soon  as  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  recruiting 
business  will  permit,  you  are  to  go  to  the  Illinois  country 
&   join   Col.    Clarke.      I    need   not  tell   you  how  necessary 

I.    "Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  I.,  312-14. 

Col.  John  Todd,  jr.,  was  born  March  27,  1750,  in  Pennsylvania,  lie  was 
well  educated  by  his  uncle  in  Virginia,  in  which  state  young  Todd  practised 
law  for  some  years.  In  1775,  he  was  one  of  the  representatives  chosen  at  the 
call  of  the  proprietors  of  Transylvania  to  form  an  ultra- constitutional  gov- 
ernment for  that  new  settlement.  In  1777,  he  was  one  of  the  first  two 
burgesses  from  the  county  of  Kentucky.  He  was  killed  at  the  Battle  of  the 
Blue  Licks,  August  19,  1782.  For  biographical  sketches  see  John  Mason 
Brown,  "Oration  at  the  Centennial  of  the  Battle  of  the  Blue  Licks,"  27-31 ; 
"Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  285-8;  Green,  "Historic  Families  of 
Ky.,"  211;  White,  "Descendants  of  John  Walker,"  56;  "Filson  Club 
Pub,"  VI.,  27-8;  Morthead,  "Settlement  of  Ky.,"  174.  Morehead's  facts 
were  from  R.  YVickliffe,  Todd's  son-in-law,  but  this  fact  loses  its  significance 
fiom  the  circumstance  that  Todd's  only  living  child  was  of  posthumous  birth. 


THE   COUNTY   OF   ILLINOIS.  \J 

the  greatest  possible  Dispatch  is  to  the  good  of  the  service 
in  which  you  are  engaged.  Our  party  at  Illinois  may  be 
lost,  together  with  the  present  favorable  Disposition  of  the 
French  and  Indians  there,  unless  every  moment  is  improved 
for  their  preservation,  &  no  future  opportunity,  if  the 
present  is  lost,  can  ever  be  expected  so  favorable  to  the 
Interest  of  the  commonwealth."  Montgomery  was  urged 
not  to  be  daunted  by  the  inclement  season,  the  great  dis- 
tance to  Illinois,  the  "  want  of  many  necessaries,"  or  oppo- 
sition from  enemies.1  Gov.  Henry  deserves  much  credit 
for  his  prompt  and  aggressive  action  at  a  time  when 
Virginia  was  in  the  very  midst  of  the  Revolution. 

Col.  Clark  was  much  pleased  with  the  appointment  of 
Col.  Todd,  both  because  civil  duties  were  irksome  to  the 
conqueror  and  because  of  his  confidence  in  Todd's  ability.2 
Upon  the  arrival  of  the  new  county-lieutenant,  Clark 
called  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Kaskaskia  to  meet  the 
new  officer  and  to  elect  judges.  He  introduced  Col.  Todd 
as  governor  and  said  that  he  was  the  only  person  in  the  state 
whom  he  had  desired  for  the  place.  The  people  were  told 
that  the  government,  Virginia,  was  going  to  send  a 
regiment  of  regular  troops  for  their  defense,  that  the  new 
governor  would  arrange  and  settle  their  affairs,  and  that 
they  would  soon  become  accustomed  to  the  American 
system  of  government.  In  regard  to  the  election  of 
judges,  Clark  said:  "I  pray  you  to  consider  the  import- 
ance of  this  choice  ;  to  make  it  without  partiality,  and  to 
choose  the  persons  most  worthy  of  such  posts."3  The 
nine  members  of  the  court  of  Kaskaskia,  the  seven  mem- 
bers of  the  court  of  Cahokia,  and  the  nine  members  of 
the  court  of  Vincennes,  as  also  the  respective  clerks  were 
French.      Of  the  three   sheriffs,  Richard    Winston,  sheriff 

I.    Henry,   "Life  of  Patrick  Henry,"  III.,  216-18.      2.   Ibid.,  237. 
3.    "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  XLIX.,  43,  original  MS.  in  P'rench. 


1 8  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

of  Kaskaskia,  was  the  only  one  who  was  not  French.1 
Military  commissions  were  promptly  made  out,  those 
of  the  districts  of  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia  being  dated 
May  14,  1779.  So  many  of  the  persons  elected  judges 
were  also  given  military  commissions  that  it  seems  prob- 
able that  the  supply  of  suitable  men  was  small.  No  fewer 
than  fourteen  such  cases  occur.  Of  the  militia  officers 
appointed  at  Vincennes,  P.  Legras,  appointed  lieutenant- 
colonel,  had  been  a  major  in  the  British  service,  and  F. 
Bosseron,  appointed  major,  had  been  a  captain  in  the 
British  service.2 

The  position  of  Illinois  among  the  counties  of  Virginia 
was  necessarily  anomalous.  All  counties,  except  the 
County  of  Illinois,  were  asked  to  furnish  one  twenty- fifth 
of  their  militia  to  defend  the  state.  Illinois  county  was 
omitted  from  the  western  counties  enumerated  in  "An  act 
for  adjusting  and  settling  the  titles  of  claimers  to  unpat- 
ented lands  under  the  present  and  former  government, 
previous  to  the  establishment  of  the  commonwealth's  land 
office."  Settlers  northwest  of  the  Ohio  were  warned  to 
remove.  No  settlement  would  be  permitted  there,  and  if 
attempted,  the  intruder  might  be  removed  by  force  — 
"Provided,  That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  con- 
strued   in    any   manner    to   injure    or    affect   any   French, 

1.  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  295. 

2.  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  294-6,  41S;  "Mich.  Pioneer  Coll.," 
IX.,  498. 

A  Mr.  Winston,  probably  Richard,  was  in  Illinois  in  1770,  and  was 
regarded  as  an  authority  on  the  prices  of  cattle,  as  is  shown  by  the  court 
records.  In  1773,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  purchase  of  land  from  the  Kas- 
kaskia Indians,  by  the  Illinois  Land  Company,  Richard  Winston  was  at 
Kaskaskia,  and  interpreted  in  French  to  the  illiterate  Indian  interpreter  of 
His  Majesty  what  the  company  desired  to  say  to  the  Indians — "Chicago 
Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  435  ;  "An  Account  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  111.  and 
Ouabache  Land  Companies,"  1796,  14.  Richard  Winston  was  one  of  the 
riginal  Indiana  Company — "Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  VI.,   18,  35. 


THE    COUNTY    OF    ILLINOIS.  19 

Canadian,  or  other  families,  or  persons  heretofore  actually 
settled  in  or  about  the  villages  near  or  adjacent  to  the 
posts  reduced  by  the  forces  of  this  state."  These  excep- 
tionsN  were  made  at  the  May  session  of  1779.  At  this 
session,  there  was  passed  an  act  for  raising  one  troop  of 
cavalry,  consisting  of  one  captain,  one  lieutenant,  one 
cornet,  and  thirty-two  privates  to  defend  the  inhabitants 
of  Illinois  county.  All  officers  were  to  be  appointed  by 
the  governor  and  council.  The  men  were  to  receive  the 
same  pay  as  Continentals.  Any  soldier  who  would  serve 
in  Illinois  during  the  war  should  receive  a  bounty  of  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  and  a  grant  of  one  hundred 
acres  of  land.1 

Acting  upon  the  policy  that  caused  Virginia  to  warn  all 
intruders  not  to  settle  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  Todd  issued 
a  proclamation  warning  all  persons  against  such  settle- 
ment, "unless  in  manner  and  form  as  heretofore  made  by 
the  French  inhabitants."  All  inhabitants  were  ordered  to 
file  a  description  of  lands  held  by  them,  together  with  a 
deed  or  deposition,  in  order  to  be  ready  for  the  press  of 
adventurers  that  was  expected.2 

Some  of  the  incidents  of  the  summer  of  1779  indicate 
difficulties  of  the  new  government.  When  the  governor 
was  to  be  absent  for  a  short  time,  he  wrote  to  Winston, 
who  as  commander  of  Kaskaskia  would  be  acting  gov- 
ernor, telling  him  not  to  impress  property,  and  by  all 
means  to  keep  up  a  good  understanding  with  Col.  Clark 
and  the  officers.  The  judges  of  the  court  at  Kaskaskia 
were  ordered  to  hold  court  "at  the  usual  place  of  holding 
court. .  .any  adjournment  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 
Richard  McCarty,  of  Cahokia,  wrote  to  the  county- 
lieutenant   complaining   that   the  writer's  stock  had   been 

1.  "Hening's  Statutes,"  X.,  26,  32,  43,  161. 

2.  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  301  ;   "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  16. 


20  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

killed  by  the  French  inhabitants.  McCarty  had  allowed 
his  stock  to  run  at  large  and  they  had  destroyed  unin- 
closed  crops,  which  crops,  he  contended,  were  not  in  their 
proper  place.  Two  months  later,  McCarty  wrote  from 
Cahokia:  "Col.  Todd  residence  hear  will  spoil  the  people 
intirely.  I  think  it  would  be  a  happy  thing  could  we  get 
Colo1  Todd  out  of  the  country  for  he  will  possitively  sett 
the  Inhabitants  and  us  by  the  Ears.  I  have  wrote  him  a 
pritty  sharp  Letter  on  his  signing  a  Death  warrant  against 
my  poor  hog's  for  runing  in  the  Oppen  fields  .... 
on  some  complaints  by  the  Inhabitants  the  other  day  he 
wished  that  there  was  not  a  Soldier  in  the  country."1 
McCarty's  hogs  were  not  his  only  trouble.  A  fellow- 
officer  wrote:  "I  received  a  line  from  Capt.  McCarty  [cap- 
tain of  troops  at  Cahokia]  yesterday.  He  is  well.  He 
writes  to  me  that  he  has  lost  most  of  his  French  soldiers, 
and  that  the  inhabitants  are  so  saucy  that  they  threaten  to 
drive  him  and  his  soldiers  away,  telling  him  that  he  has 
no  business  there  —  nobody  sent  for  him.  They  are  very 
discontented.     The  civil  law  has  ruined  them."2 

Col.  Todd's  position  was  difficult  because  of  the  discon- 
tent prevailing  among  both  the  French  and  the  Americans 
in  Illinois.  His  salary  was  so  small  that  he  feared  that  he 
must  sell  his    property  in   Kentucky  to    support    himself 

i.  Todd  to  Winston,  June  15,  1779  —  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV., 
302;  Todd  to  Judges  at  Kaskaskia,  July  31,  1779  —  Ibid.,  304;  McCarty  to 
Todd,  from  Cahokia,  July  18,  1779  — "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  XLIX., 
72,  original  MS.;  McCarty  to  Montgomery,  from  Cahokia,  Sept.  19,  1779, 
—  Ibid.,  XLIX.,  71,  original  MS. 

Richard  McCarty  had  been  a  resident  of  Cahokia  under  British  rule  and 
had  warned  the  British  against  American  encroachments.  He  was  licensed 
to  trade  by  the  county  government  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  court  of 
the  District  of  Cahokia,  June  5,  1779  —  "Mich.  Pioneer  Coll.,"  IX.,  368, 
383;  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  296-7-8. 

2.  Capt.  John  Williams  to  G.  R.  Clark,  from  Fort  Clark,  Kaskaskia, 
Sept.  25,  1779 — "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  XLIX.,  73,  original  MS. 


THE   COUNTY    OF    ILLINOIS.  2  1 

while  in  public  service.  He  regarded  Kentucky  as  a 
much  better  place  than  Illinois  for  the  ambitious  man,  the 
retired  farmer,  or  the  young-  merchant.1  He  had  been 
scarcely  more  than  three  months  in  ofhee  when  he  wrote 
to  the  governor  of  Virginia:  "I  expected  to  have  been  pre- 
pared to  present  to  your  excellency  some  amendments 
upon  the  form  of  Government  for  Illinois,  but  the  present 
will  be  attended  with  no  great  inconveniences  till  the 
Spring  Session,  when  I  beg  your  permission  to  attend  and 
get  a  Discharge  from  an  Office,  which  an  unwholesome  air, 
a  distance  from  my  connexions,  a  Language  not  familiar 
to  me,  and  an  impossibility  of  procuring  many  of  the  con- 
veniences of  Life  suitable;  all  tend  to  render  uncomfort- 
able."2 This  letter  was  intercepted  by  the  British  and  did 
not  reach  the  governor. 

Great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  securing  supplies  for 
the  soldiers.  At  times,  both  troops  and  people  suffered 
from  lack  of  clothing.  The  Spanish  refused  to  allow  the 
Americans  to  navigate  the  Mississippi,  Virginia  money 
entirely  lost  its  credit,  hard  money  was  scarce,  and  peltry 
was  difficult  for  the  military  commissaries  to  obtain.  Col. 
Todd,  in  desperation,  refused  to  allow  the  commander  at 
Kaskaskia  to  pay  the  people  peltry  for  provisions  as  had 
been  promised,  and  calling  the  inhabitants  in  council,  he 
told  them  that  if  they  would  not  sell  on  the  credit  of  the 
state  they  would  be  subject  to  military  discipline.3     The 

1.  Todd  to  Col.  Will  Fleming,  senator  from  Botetourt,  from  Kaskaskia, 
Aug.  iS,  1779  — "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  XXIII.,  103,  original  MS. 

2.  Todd  to  Gov.  of  Va.,  from  Kaskaskia,  Aug.  18,  1779  —  "Chicago  Hist. 
Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  319. 

3.  Capt.  John  Williams  to  Col.  Wm.  Preston,  from  Ft.  Clark,  Kaskas- 
kia, Sept.  20,   1779  —  "Draper  Coll..  Preston  Papers,"  Y.,  9,  original  MS. 

Montgomery  to  Clark,  from  Ft.  Clark,  Kaskaskia,  Oci'.  5,  1779 — Ibid:, 
"Clark  MSS.,"XLIX.,  78,  original  MS. 


22  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

fall  of  1779  saw  the  garrison  at  Vincennes  without  salt, 
and  starving;  while  at  Kaskaskia  the  money  was  worth- 
less, troops  were  without  clothes  and  deserting  daily.1 
This  great  lack  of  supplies  resulted  in  the  impressment  of 
supplies,  in  disagreement  among  the  officers,  and  was  a 
prominent  factor  in  a  resolution  to  withdraw  the  troops 
from  their  several  situations  and  concentrate  them  at  a 
single  point  on  the  Ohio  River.  The  discontent  of  the 
French  was  extreme,  and  it  was  increased  by  the  departure 
of  Col.  Todd  for  Virginia.  The  officers  who  were  left  in 
command  ruled  with  a  rod  of  iron  and  took  cattle,  flour, 
wood,    and    other    necessaries,    without    payment.2     Capt. 

1.  Shelby  to  Clark,  from  Vincennes,  Oct.  10,  1779  —  Ibid.,  XLIX.,  79, 
original  MS.;  Montgomery  to  Clark,  from  P"t.  Clark,  Kaskaskia,  Nov.  15, 
1779  — Ibid.,  XLIX.,  85,  original  MS. 

2.  Montgomery  to  Clark,  from  Kaskaskia,  Feb.  1,  17S0 — "Draper  Coll. 
Clark  MSS.,"  L.,  9,  original  MS.;  Clark  to  Todd,  from  Louisville,  March, 
1780 — "Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  I.,  338-9;  Johii  Mc Arthur  from  Ste. 
Genevieve,  Mo.,  Oct.  22,  ,1883— "Draper  Coll.  Clark    MSS.,"  VIII.,  27. 

I  have  been  unable  to  determine  just  when  Col.  Todd  left  Illinois,  whether 
he  resigned  as  county -lieutenant,  and  whether  he  again  returned.  Boyd  in 
his  article  in  the  "Am.  Hist.  Rev,"  IV.,  says  that  he  left  in  17S0,  resigned 
in  the  same  year,  and  apparently  did  not  return.  Mason,  in  "Chicago  Hist. 
Soc.  Coll.,"  IV,  287,  says  that  he  seems  to  have  left  in  1779,  seems  not  to 
have  resigned,  and  not  to  have  returned.  Wickliffe,  in  Morehead,  "Settle- 
ment of  Ky. ,"  174,  implies  that  he  did  not  resign,  and  says  that  he  several 
times  revisited  the  county.  No  one  of  these  writers  gives  any  authority  for 
his  statement  and  I  have  found  none.  It  is  certain  that  Todd  was  at  the 
Falls  of  Ohio  on  December  23,  1779;  that  he  then  wrote  to  the  governor  of 
Virginia  expressing  his  intention  of  resigning;  that  the  governor,  Jefferson, 
strongly  opposed  his  resigning — "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  359;  that 
he  left  some  peltry  in  the  joint  care  of  his  subordinates,  Montgomery  and 
Winston,  in  November,  1779  ;  that  goods  were  said  to  be  consigned  to  him  as 
county -lieutenant  of  Illinois  in  November,  1780;  that  he  wrote  "I  still  receive 
complaints  from  the  Illinois,"  on  April  15,  1 781 ;  that  on  April  29,  1781, 
Winston  was  referred  to  as  "Deputy  County -Lieutenant  for  the  Illinois 
County;"  and  that  Thimothe  Demunbrunt  signed  as  "Lt.  Comd.  par  interim, 
&c. "  in  February  and  again  in  March,  1782  —  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.," 
IV.,  315-16,  335,  343,  359;  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i860,"  III.,  40-4. 


THE   COUNTY   OF   ILLINOIS.  23 

Dodge,  of  Kaskaskia,  refused  to  honor  a  draft  presented, 
apparently,  by  the  government  of  Virginia,  and  when  sued 
in  the  civil  court,  he  declared  that  he  had  nothing  but  his 
body  and  that  could  not  be  levied  upon;  besides,  he  was 
an  officer  and  as  such  was  not  amenable  to  civil  law.1 

In  the  very  midst  of  starvation,  the  French,  unaccus- 
tomed to  English  ways,  were  wishing  to  increase  the 
expense  of  government.  An  unsigned  official  letter  says, 
in  speaking  of  affairs  in  Illinois:  "I  find  that  justices  of 
the  peace,  appointed  among  them,  expect  to  be  paid,  this 
not  being  the  practice  under  our  laws,  there  is  no  provis- 
ion for  it.  Would  it  not  be  expedient  to  restrain  these 
appointments  to  a  very  small  number,  and  for  these  (if  it 
be  necessary)  to  require  small  contributions  either  from 
the  litigants  or  the  people  at  large,  as  you  find  would  be 
most  agreeable.  In  time,  I  suppose  even  this  might  be 
discontinued.  The  Clerks  &  Sheriffs  perhaps  may  be 
paid,  as  with  us,  only  converting  Tobacco  fees  into  their 
worth  in  peltry.  As  to  the  rules  of  decision  &  modes  of 
proceding,  I  suppose  ours  can  be  only  gradually  intro- 
duced. It  would  be  well  to  get  their  militia  disciplined  by 
calling  them  regularly  together  according  to  our  usage; 
however,  all  this  can  only  be  recommended  to  your  Dis- 
cretion."2 Some  eight  years  later  the  exaction  of  cxhorbi- 
tant  fees  was  one  of  the  chief  reasons  which  caused  the 
reform  of  the  French  court  at  Vincennes.3 

1.  Edward  Murray  to— ,  from  Kaskaskia,  Apr.    19,    1780  — 

"Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  XLVL,  52,  original  MS.  John  Dodge  had 
been  an  Indian  trader  between  Detroit  and  Pittsburg.  He  was  captured  by  the 
British,  but  escaped  on  Oct.  9,  1778,  after  thirty-three  months  detention.  Wash- 
ington recommended  him  to  Congress  as  a  man  who  would  be  useful  because 
of  his  knowledge  of  the  country  —  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i860,"  VI.,  153-5. 

2.  Unsigned  and  unaddressed,  from  Williamsburg,  Jan.    28,  17S0 — "Dra- 
per Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  I.,  5,  original  MS. 

3.  Hamtramck   to   Harmar,   from    Vincennes,    Apr.    13,     1788  —  "Draper 
Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  I.,  386-7. 


24  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

The  plan  for  concentrating  most  of  the  Illinois  troops  at 
a  single  point  was  carried  out  in  the  spring  of  1780.  The 
chief  objects  sought  were  to  procure  supplies  and  to  pre- 
vent the  advance  of  the  Spaniards.  At  first,  it  was 
thought  advisable  to  locate  the  new  fort  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Ohio  near  the  Mississippi,  and  Col.  Todd  made 
some  grants  of  land  to  such  persons  as  were  willing  to 
settle  in  the  vicinity  and  assist  in  raising  provisions,  but 
the  fact  that  Virginia  currency,  although  refused  in  Illi- 
nois, was  accepted  in  Kentucky  caused  the  fort  to  be  built 
south  of  the  Ohio,  and  it  is  probable  that  Todd's  grants  of 
land  at  the  site  first  proposed  lapsed.1  As  the  troops  had 
a  great  need  for  settlers  to  raise  crops,  Capt.  Dodge  sug- 
gested to  the  governor  of  Virginia  that  immigrants  to  Illi- 
nois should  receive  aid  from  Virginia.  This  would  aid  the 
troops  and  would  stop  emigration  to  the  Spanish  posses- 
sions west  of  the  Mississippi.2 

As  the  French  could  neither  support  the  soldiers  nor  do 
without  them,  commissions  in  blank  were  sent  to  Maj. 
Bosseron,  district  commandant  at  Vincennes,  with  power 
to  raise  a  company  there,  and  to  assure  the  company  that 
pay  would  be  allowed  by  the  government.  It  was  feared 
that  the  settlers  at  Vincennes  would  consider  themselves 
abandoned  upon  the  withdrawal  of  troops.  It  was  pro- 
posed to  leave  enough  troops  among  the  French  to  satisfy 
them,  but  scarcely  had  the  new  fort  been  established  when 
the  people  of  Cahokia  sent  a  special  messenger  to  Clark 
at  Fort  Jefferson,  the  new  fort,  asking  that  troops  be  sent 

1.  Clark  to  Todd  from  Louisville,  Mar.,  17S0 — " Cal.  of  Ya.  State 
Papers,"  I.,  338-9;  see  also  pp.  35S,  360. 

Unsigned  and  unaddressed  official  letter,  from  Williamsburg,  Jan.  2S, 
17S0— "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  L.,  5,  original  MS. 

2.  Dodge  to  Gov.  of  Va.,  from  Ft.  Jefferson,  Aug.  1,  17S0 — "Cal.  of  Va. 
State  Papers,"  I.,  368. 


THE   COUNTY   OF    ILLINOIS.  25 

to  protect  them.  The  Indians  so  surround  the  place,  say 
the  petitioners,  that  the  fields  can  not  be  cultivated.  If 
troops  are  sent  the  people  can  not  feed  them,  but  if  they 
are  not  sent  the  people  can  not  long  feed  themselves.1 
French  creditors  of  the  government  were  unpaid  and  some 
of  them  must  have  been  in  sore  need.2 

The  act  establishing  the  County  of  Illinois  would  ter- 
minate by  limitation  at  the  end  of  the  May  session  of 
1780,  unless  renewed.  At  that  session,  the  act  was 
renewed  "for  one  year  after  the  passing  of  this  act,  and 
from  thence  to  the  end  of  the  next  session  of  assembly."3 

The  condition  of  the  people  in  the  county  during  the 
latter  half  of  1 780  was  one  of  misery.  Contemporary 
accounts  have  a  melancholy  interest.  An  attack  by 
Indians  upon  Fort  Jefferson  being  imminent,  the  few 
troops  in  the  outlying  districts  were  ordered  to  come  to 
the  aid  of  the  garrison.  The  order  reached  Cahokia  when 
its  few  defenders  were  sick  and  starving.  Corn,  without 
grease  or  salt,  was  fheir  only  food.  Deaths  were  of  fre- 
quent occurrence.  The  people  of  the  village  had  petitioned 
Col.  Montgomery  to  ease  their  burden  by  quartering  some 
of  the  troops  in  other  villages,  but  he  refused  the  request 
of  other  officers  for  a  council  and  threatened  to  abandon 
the  country  entirely.  In  such  a  condition  of  affairs,  Capt 
McCarty  proceeded  to  obey  the  orders  from  Fort  Jefferson. 
The  only  boats  at  the  disposal  of  the  garrison  were  unsea- 
worthy,  so  five  small  boats  were  pressed  for  use.     On  the 

1.  Todd  to  Gov.  Jefferson,  from  Richmond,  June  2,  1780 — "Cal.  of 
Va.  State  Papers,"  I.,  358;  Address  from  the  people  of  Cahokia  to  G.  R. 
Clark,  April  11,  1780  —  "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  L.,  27,  original  MS.  in 
French. 

2.  Lepras  to  Clark,  from  Vincennes,  Aug.  1,  1780  —  "Draper  Coll. ,  Clark 
MSS.,"  L.,  54,  original  MS.  in  French. 

3.  "Hening's  Statutes,"  X.,  303,  388-9. 

3 


26  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

way,  several  of  the  famished  soldiers  became  so  sick  that 
they  had  to  be  left  along  the  route.  Even  military  disci- 
pline was  bad  in  the  country.  Capt.  McCarty,  upon  being 
arrested  for  having  quarreled  with  Dodge,  because  the 
latter  would  not  buy  food  for  the  starving  troops,  was  left 
for  months  without  trial  because  Col.  Montgomery  had 
left  the  country  and  a  military  court  could  not  be  con- 
vened.1 In  October,  McCarty  wrote:  "In  short,  we  are 
become  the  hated  beasts  of  a  whole  people  by  pressing 
horses,  boats,  &c,  &c,  &c,  killing  cattle,  &c,  &c,  for 
which  no  valuable  consideration  is  given;  even  many  not  a 
certificate,  which  is  here  looked  upon  as  next  to  nothing."2 
Of  the  same  tenor  as  McCarty's  testimony  to  Illinois 
conditions  is  that  of  Winston.  A  remonstrance  of  the 
civil  authorities  against  the  extravagance  of  the  military 
officers  was  treated  as  insolent  and  impertinent.  The 
military  power  refused  the  civil  department  the  use  of  the 
military  prison,  even  when  pay  was  offered,  and  made 
strenuous  efforts  to  establish  military  rule.  Col.  Mont- 
gomery and  Capt.  Brashears  had  departed  for  New 
Orleans  without  settling  the  account  for  the  peltry  which 
Todd  had  committed  to  the  joint  care  of  Montgomery 
and  Winston.  Montgomery  was  openly  accused  of  having 
taken  a  large  amount  of  public  property  away  with  him. 
Capt.  Dodge  was  a  notorious  disturber  of  the  peace,  and 
Capt.  Bentley,  a  more  recent  arrival,  was  equally  unde- 
sirable. In  the  closing  paragraph  of  a  long  letter  is  the 
significant  statement:   "It  Being  so   long  a  time  since  we 

i.  Extract  from  McCarty's  journal,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  14,  17S0  — 
"Draper  Coll. ,  Clark  MSS.,"  L.,  66;  McCarty  to  Col.  Slaughter,  Jan.  27, 
1781  —  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i860,"  III.,  1,  2;  incomplete  in  "Cal.  of  Va. 
State  Papers,"  I.,  465  ;  Montgomery  to  McCarty,  between  Aug.  27  and  Aug. 
30,  1780  — "Draper  Coll., Clark  MSS.,"  L.,  66,  68  ;  Ibid.,  L.,  70,  original  MS. 

2.  McCarty  to  Todd,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  14,  1780 — "Cal.  of  Va.  State 
Papers,"  L. ,  380. 


THE   COUNTY   OF    ILLINOIS.  2J 

had  any  news  from  you,  we  conclude  therefrom  that  the 
Government  has  given  us  up  to  do  for  Ourselves  the  Best 
we  can,  untill  such  time  as  it  pleases  Some  other  State  or 
Power  to  take  us  under  their  Protection  —  a  few  lines 
from  you  would  give  Some  of  us  great  satisfaction,  yett 
the  Generality  of  the  People  are  of  Opinion  that  this 
Country  will  be  given  up  to  Prance     .     .     .     "x 

At  the  close  of  October,  the  troops,  with  the  exception 
of  a  very  few,  were  collected  at  Fort  Jefferson.  There  the 
garrison  was  sick  and  starving,2  clothes  were  much  needed, 
desertion  was  rife,  and  the  abandonment  of  the  post 
seemed  imminent.3  Among  the  few  troops  that  were  not 
called  to  Fort  Jefferson  were  those  of  Capt.  Rogers,  at 
Kaskaskia.  This  company  "had  to  impress  supplies, 
giving  certificates  for  the  value — thus  would  kill  cattle 
when  they  wanted  them,  hogs,  &  take  flour  from  the  horse- 
mills —  &  thus  lived  very  comfortably."4 

Mutual  recrimination  was  common  among  the  officers. 
Todd,  in  a  letter  to  Gov.  Jefferson,  in  which  he  inclosed 
letters  from  the  Illinois  officers,  said:  "Winston  is  com- 
mandant at  Kaskaskia;  McCarty,  a  captain  in  the  Illinois 
regiment,  who  has  long  since  rendered  himself  disagree- 
able by  endeavoring  to  enforce  military  law  upon  the  civil 
department  at  Kohos. 

i.  Winston  to  Todd,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  24,  1780 — "Cal.  of  Va.  State 
Papers,"  I.,  380-2. 

2.  Winston  to  Clark,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  24,  1780 — "Draper  Coll., 
Clark  MSS.,"  L.,  71,  original  MS.;  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i860,"  II., 
136-40;  Helm  to  Slaughter,  from  Fort  Jefferson,  Oct.  29,  1780 — "Cal.  of 
Va.  State  Papers,"  I.,  383;  Williams  to  Clark,  from  Camp  Jefferson,  Oct.  28, 
17S0 — Ibid.,  I.,  3S3. 

3.  Montgomery  to  Jefferson,  from  New  Orleans,  Jan.  8,  1781 — "Cal.  of 
Va.  State  Papers,"  I.,  424-5. 

4.  "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  VIII.,  78. 


28  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

"The  peltry,  mentioned  by  Winston  as  purloined  or 
embezzled  by  Montgomery,  was  committed  to  their  joint 
care  by  me  in  Nov,  1779;  and  from  the  circumstance  of 
Montgomery's  taking  up  with  an  infamous  girl,  leaving  his 
wife,  &  flying  down  the  river,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  the 
worst  that  can  be  said  of  him.  Being  so  far  out  of  the 
road  of  business,  I  can  not  do  the  State  that  justice  I 
wish  by  sending  down  his  case  immediately  to  the  Spanish 
commandants  on  the  Mississippi."1  From  January  28, 
1779,  to  October  i8,  1780,  Montgomery  drew  drafts  upon 
Virginia  to  the  amount  of  thirty-nine  thousand  three 
hundred  twenty  dollars.2  Winston  and  McCarty  accused 
Capt.  Rogers,  who  succeeded  Col.  Montgomery  in  com- 
mand at  Kaskaskia,  of  shooting  down  the  stock  of  the 
inhabitants  without  warrant.  In  a  dignified  defence,  Capt. 
Rogers  declared  that  he  took  only  so  much  food  as  was 
absolutely  required  to  save  his  starving  sick,  and  that  Mr. 
Bentley,  who  endeavored  to  secure  supplies  from  the 
people,  offering  his  personal  credit,  was  persistently  opposed 
by  Winston  and  McCarty.  "I  can  not  conclude  without 
informing  you  that  'tis  my  positive  opinion  the  people  of 
the  Illinois  &  Post  Vincennes  have  been  in  an  absolute 
state  of  rebellion  for  these  several  months  past,  &  ought 
to  have  no  further  indulgence  shown  them;  and  such  is 
the  nature  of  those  people,  the  more  they  are  indulged, 
the  more  turbulant  they  grow.  I  look  upon  it  that  Winston 
and  McCarty  have  been  principal  instruments  to  bring 
them  to  the  pitch  they  are  now  at."3  Capt.  Dodge,  against 
whom  complaints  had  become  general,  and  Capt.  McCarty, 

1.  Todd  to  Gov.  Jefferson,  from  Lexington,  Ky.,  Jan.  24,  1781  —  "Cal. 
of  Va.  State  Papers,"  I.,  460. 

2.  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i860,"  II.,  158. 

3.  Rogers  to  Gov.  Jefferson,  from  Harrodsburg,  Apr.  29,  1781 — "Dra- 
per's Notes,  Trip  i860,"  III.,  40-4;  incomplete  in  "Cal.  of  Va.  State 
Papers,"  II.,  76-7.  Rogers  refers  to  Winston  as  "Deputy  County  Lieutenant 
for  the  Illinois  County."     Who  was  county -lieutenant? 


THE    COUNTY    OF    ILLINOIS.  29 

whose  quarrel  has  been  narrated,  were  ordered  to  appear 
before  a  court  of  inquiry  at  Fort  Jefferson.1  Clark  was 
very  angry  at  Montgomery's  conduct.  He  sent  a  message 
to  New  Orleans  ordering  him  to  return  for  trial;  he 
warned  all  persons  against  trusting  the  offender  on  the 
credit  of  the  State,  and  he  requested  the  governor  of 
Virginia  to  arrest  the  fugitive  if  he  should  come  to  Rich- 
mond.2 How  low  public  morals  had  sunk  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  Montgomery  had  the  effrontery  to  return  to  Fort 
Jefferson,  where  he  arrived  on  May  I,  178 1,  and  resumed 
his  command.  In  February,  1783,  he  made  his  defense  and 
asked  for  his  pay.3  In  April,  i78i,Todd  wrote:  "I  still  re- 
ceive complaints  from  the  Illinois.  That  Department  suf- 
fers, I  fear,  through  the  avarice  and  prodigality  of  our  officers; 
they  all  vent  complaints  against  each  other.  I  believe  our 
French  friends  have  the  justest  grounds  of  dissatisfaction."4 
On  June  2,  1781,  Capt.  McCarty  was  killed  in  a  fight 
between  the  Illinois  troops  and  some  Indians  on  the  one 
side  and  a  party  of  Ouia  Indians,  who  favored  the  British, 
on  the  other.  The  engagement  took  place  near  the 
Wabash.  McCarty's  papers  were  sent  to  the  British,  who 
laconically  reported:  "They  give  no  information  other 
than  that  himself  and  all  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Illenoise 
were    heartily  tired  of    the  Virginians."5    There    is   slight 

1.  Slaughter  to  Gov.  Jefferson,  from  Louisville,  Tan.  14,  1781  —  "Draper 
Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  LI.,  12,  original  MS.;  Maj.  Williams's  orders,  endorsed 
"pretended  orders,"  from  Fort  Clark,  Kaskaskia,  Feb.  12,  1781. 

2.  Clark  to  Gov.  of  Va.,  from  "Yough,"  Mar.  27,  17S1 — "Cal.  of  Va. 
State  Papers,"  I.,  597. 

3.  Montgomery  to  Gov.  of  Va.,  from  Falls  of  Ohio,  Aug.  10,  1781  —  "Cal. 
of  Va.  State  Papers,"  II.,  313;  Montgomery  to  the  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  the  Settlement  of  Western  Accounts,  from  New  Holland,  Feb.  22,  1783 
—  Ibid.,  III.,  441-4. 

4.  Todd  to  Gov.  Jefferson,  from  Lexington,  Ky.,  Apr.  15,  1781 — "Cal. 
of  Va.  State  Papers,"  II.,  44-5. 

5.  "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  LX.,  17,  No.  2;  Maj.  de  Peyster  to  Brig.- 
Gen.  Powell,  from  Detroit,  July  12,  1781  —  "Mich.  Pioneer  Coll. ,"  XIX.,  646. 


30  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

reason  to  doubt  the  truth  of  the  statement.  It  is  enforced 
by  the  fact  that  in  1781,  a  letter  written  in  French  to  the 
governor  of  Virginia  and  said  to  be  signed  in  the  name  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Vincennes  and  to  give  the  views  of  the 
people  of  Vincennes,  Kaskaskia,  Vermilion,  Ouia,  etc., 
declared  that  the  French  had  decided  to  receive  no  troops 
except  those  sent  by  the  king  of  France  to  aid  in  defeat- 
ing the  enemies  of  the  country.  The  Indians  who  are 
friendly  to  the  French,  said  the  writer,  would  regard  the 
coming  of  Virginia  troops  as  a  hostile  act.  A  copy  of  the 
memoir  sent  by  the  French  settlers  to  the  French  minister 
Luzerne  was  inclosed.1 

On  June  8,  1781,  the  garrison  of  Fort  Jefferson,  being 
without  food,  without  credit,  and  for  more  than  two  years 
without  pay,  evacuated  the  place  and  withdrew  to  the 
Falls  of  Ohio,  only  to  find  themselves  without  credit  in 
even  the  adjoining  counties  of  Virginia.  The  troops  were 
billeted  in  small  parties.2  Once  again  there  comes  a 
despairing  plea  from  the  feeble  garrison  at  Vincennes,  in 
the  County  of  Illinois.  The  commander  wrote:  "Sir,  I 
must  inform  you  once  more  that  I  can  not  keep  garrison 
any  longer,  without  some  speedy  relief  from  you.  My 
men  have  been  15  days  upon  half- allowance;  there  is 
plenty  of  provisions  here  but  no  credit  —  I  can  not  press, 
being  the  weakest  party —  Some  of  the  Gentlemen 
would  help  us,  but  their  credit  is  as  bad  as  ours,  therefore, 
if  you  have  not  provisions  send  us  Whisky  which  will 
answer  as  good  an  end."3 

1.  "Can.  Archives,"  Series  B.,  Vol.  182,489;  "Kept,  on  Can.  Archives," 
188S,  8S2. 

2.  Montgomery    to   Gov.    Nelson,  from   Falls  of  Ohio,  Aug.    10,    17S1  — 
"Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  II.,  313;  Same  to  same,  same  date — Il>id.,\l.,  315. 

3.  Capt.  Bailey  to  Col.  Slaughter,   from  "Port  Vincennes,"  Aug.  6,  17S1 
— "Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  II.,  338. 


THE   COUNTY    OF   ILLINOIS.  3  I 

In  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  a  committee  for 
courts  of  justice  reported  that  the  laws  which  would 
expire  at  the  end  of  the  session  had  been  examined, 
together  with  certain  other  laws,  and  that  a  series  of  reso- 
lutions had  been  agreed  upon  by  the  committee.  Among 
these  resolutions  was  the  following:  "Resolved,  That  it  is 
the  opinion  of  this  committee,  That  the  act  of  assembly, 
passed  in  the  year  1778,  entitled  'an  act,  for  establishing 
the  count)-  of  Illinois,  and  for  the  more  effectual  protec- 
tion and  defence  thereof;'  which  was  continued  and 
amended  by  a  subsequent  act,  and  will  expire  at  the  end 
of  this  present  session  of  assembly,  ought  to  be  further 
continued."  This  report  was  presented  and  the  resolu- 
tions agreed  to  by  the  House  on  November  22,  1 78 1. 
Three  days  later,  a  bill  in  accordance  with  the  resolution 
was  presented.  The  consideration  of  the  bill  in  a  com- 
mittee of  the  whole  House  was  postponed  from  day  to  day 
until  December  14,  when  it  was  considered  and  the 
question  being  upon  engrossment  and  advancement  to  a 
third  reading,  it  passed  in  the  negative,1  On  January  5, 
1782,  the  General  Assembly  adjourned,  and  the  Count}-  of 
Illinois  ceased  to  exist.2  So  far  as  instituting  a  civil 
goverment  was  concerned,  the  county  was  a  failure.  Its 
military  history  shows  a  mixture  of  American,  British, 
French,  and  Spanish  efforts  at  mastery. 

The  first  important  military  operation  in  which  the 
County  of  Illinois   was  concerned,  after    the    well-known 

1.  "Jour.  H.  of  Del.,"  Va.,  Oct.  Sess.,  17S1,  13-39. 

2.  Ibid.,  72,  73,  74.  Boyd  states  in  "Am.  Hist.  Rev.,"  IV.,  632,  635,  that 
the  county  ceased  to  exist  in  17S1.  This  is  erroneous.  Mr.  Boyd's  article  is 
the  most  scholarly  treatment  of  the  County  of  Illinois  which  has  been  pub- 
lished. Aside  from  the  errors  as  to  the  time  of  the  beginning  and  the  ending 
of  the  county,  and  doubtful  statements  as  to  Todd's  leaving  Illinois  and 
subsequently  resigning,  no  errors  of  fact  have  been  noted.  A  more  complete, 
but  unpublished,  article  on  the  subject  is  by  Or.  Edith  Lyle. 


32  SETTLEMENT   OE   ILLINOIS. 

movements  of  Clark  and  Hamilton,  was  organized  by  the 
British  at  Detroit  in  compliance  with  a  circular  letter  from 
Lord  George  Germain.  The  plan  was  to  attack  St.  Louis, 
the  French  settlements  near  it  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Mississippi,  Vincennes,  Fort  Nelson  at  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio,  and  Kentucky.  Large  use  was  to  be  made  of 
Indians,  and  British  emissaries  were  busy  among  the  tribes 
early  in  1780.  An  expedition  was  to  be  led  against 
Kentucky,  while  diversions  should  be  made  at  outlying 
posts.  It  was  thought  that  the  reduction  of  St.  Louis 
would  present  little  difficult)-,  because  it  was  known  to  be 
unfortified,  and  was  reported  to  be  garrisoned  by  but 
twenty  men.  In  addition  to  this,  it  was  regarded  as  an 
easy  matter  to  use  Indians  against  the  place  from  the  cir- 
cumstance that  many  Indians  frequented  it.  Less  assur- 
ance was  felt  as  to  holding  the  place  after  it  should  have 
been  captured,  and  to  make  this  easier,  it  was  proposed  to 
appeal  to  the  cupidity  of  the  British  fur  traders.  By  the 
middle  of  February,  a  war- party  had  been  sent  out  from 
Michilimackinac  to  arouse  and  act  with  the  Sioux  Indians, 
and  early  the  next  month  another  party  was  sent  out  to 
engage  Indians  to  attack  St.  Louis  and  the  Illinois  towns. 
Seven  hundred  and  fifty  traders,  servants,  and  Indians 
having  been  collected,  on  the  2d  of  May  they  started  down 
the  Mississippi,  and  at  the  lead  mines,  near  the  present 
Galena,  seventeen  Spanish  and  American  prisoners  were 
taken.  In  conjunction  with  this  expedition,  another,  with 
a  chosen  band  of  Indians  and  French,  was  to  advance  by 
way  of  Chicago  and  the  Illinois  River;  a  third  was  to 
guard  the  prairies  between  the  Wabash  and  the  Illinois; 
and  the  chief  of  the  Sioux  was  to  attack  St.  Genevieve  and 
Kaskaskia.1 

1.    Sinclair  to   Haldimand,  from  Michilimackinac,  Feb.  17,  1780  —  "Mich. 
Pioneer    Coll.,"    IX.,    546;    Same    to    same,    May  29,   1780 — Ibid.,    IX., 


THE    COUNTY    OF    ILLINOIS.  33 

The  expedition  against  St.  Louis  and  the  Illinois  towns, 
as  well  as  in  its  larger  aspect,  was  not  successful.  It  was 
impossible  to  keep  it  secret  and  as  early  as  March,  an 
attack  was  expected.  Spanish  and  Americans  joined  in 
repulsing  the  intruders.  Another  potent  element  in  the 
failure  was  the  treachery  of  some  of  the  traders  who  acted 
as  leaders  for  the  British,  notably  that  of  Ducharme  and 
Calve,  who  had  a  lucrative  trade  and  regarded  the  pros- 
pect of  increasing  it  by  the  proposed  attack  as  doubtful. 
In  the  last  week  of  May,  1780,  the  attack  on  St.  Louis  was 
made.  Several  persons  were  killed,  but  the  place  was  not 
taken.  Cahokia  was  beleaguered  for  three  days,  but  it 
was  so  well  defended  by  George  Rogers  Clark  that  on  the 
third  night  the  enemy  withdrew,  when  Clark  hastened  to 
intercept  the  expedition  against  Kentucky,  while  the  Illi- 
nois and  Spanish  troops  pursued  the  retreating  enemy  and 
burned  the  towns  of  the  Sauk  and  Fox  Indians.  The 
British  were  much  chagrined  at  the  result  of  the  expedi- 
tion, yet  they  resolved  to  continue  their  plan  of  using 
Indians  and  sending  ,out  several  parties  at  once.1 

An  expedition  which  gains  much  interest  from  the  char- 
acter of  its  leader  was  that  of  Col.  Augustin  Mottin  de  la 
Balme.  This  man  had  been  commissioned  quartermaster 
of  gendarmerie,  by  the  authorities  of  Versailles,  in    1766; 

54S-9;  Same  to  De  Peyster,  Feb.  15,  17S0 — Ibid.,  XIX.,  500-1  ;  Same  to 
Lt.-Col.  Bolton,  June  '4,  1780  —  Ibid.,  XIX.,  529;  De  Peyster  to  Lt.- 
Col.  Bolton,  from  Detroit,  June  S,  17S0  —  Ibid.,  XIX.,  531-2;  McKee  to 
De  Peyster,  June  4,  17S0 — Ibid.,  XIX.,  530-1  ;  Bird  to  De  Peyster,  from 
"a  day's  march  from  the  Ohio,"  June  3,   17S0 — Ibid.,  XIX.,  527-9. 

1.  Sinclair  to  Bolton,  from  Michilimackinac,  July  4,  1780 — "Mich.  Pioneer 
Coll.,"  XIX.,  529-30;  Same  to  Haldimand,  July  8,  1780  —  Ibid.,  IX.,  558-9; 
Same  to  same,  May  29,  1780 — Ibid.,  IX.,  54S-9;  Same  to  De  Peyster, 
July  30,  1780— Ibid.,  IX.,  586;  "  Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  XXVIII., 
No.  117,  p.  6;  Scharf  to  Lyman  C.  Draper,  from  Baltimore,  Dec.  16,  1882 
— Ibid.,  p.  7;  Capt.  John  Rogers' account  —  Ibid,  p.  3;  Capt.  John  Murphy's 
account— Ibid. ,  VIII.,  66-78;  See  also  Ibid.,  XXVI. ,  18. 


34  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

had  come  to  America  and  been  recommended  by  Silas 
Deane  and  Benjamin  Franklin  to  the  president  of  Con- 
gress, John  Hancock,  as  a  man  who  would  be  of  service  in 
training  cavalry;  had  been  breveted  lieutenant-colonel  of 
cavalry,  in  May,  1777;  made  inspector  of  cavalry,  with  the 
rank  of  colonel,  in  July  following;  and  had  resigned  in  Octo- 
ber of  the  same  year.  The  next  year,  a  public  notice,  in 
French  with  English  and  German  translations,  announced 
that  carpenters,  bakers,  and  some  other  classes  of  labor- 
ers could  find  shelter  and  employment  at  a  workshop 
established  by  La  Balme,  twenty- eight  miles  from  Phila- 
delphia.1 In  the  summer  of  17S0,  La  Balme  went  from 
Fort  Pitt  to  the  Illinois  country. 

A  contemporary  who  writes  from  Vincennes  speaks  of 
La  Balme  as  a  French  colonel.  He  was  regarded  by  the 
Americans  with  much  suspicion.  Capt.  Dalton,  the  Amer- 
ican commander  at  Vincennes,  whose  character  was  later 
much  questioned,  allowed  him  to  go  among  the  Indians,2 
whereupon  La  Balme  advised  them  to  send  word  to  the 
tribes  which  Clark  was  preparing  to  attack  and  to  warn 
them  of  their  danger.  La  Balme  also  ingratiated  himself 
with  the  discontented  French,  asking  why  they  did  not 
drive  "these  vagabonds,"  the  American  soldiers,  away,  and 
saying  that  to  refuse  to  furnish  provisions  was  the  most 
efficient  method.  "Everything  he  advances  tends  to 
advance  the  French  interest  and  depreciate  the  American. 
The  people  here  are  easily  misled;  buoy'd  up  with  the 
flattering  hopes  of  being  again  subject  to  the  king  of 
France,  he  could  easily  prevail  on  them  to  drive  every 
American  out  of  the  Place  and  this  appears  to  me  to  be 

1.  "Kept,  on  Canadian  Archives,"  18SS,  p.  904;  "Mag.  of  Am.  Hist.," 
III.,  366. 

2.  Bentley  to  Clark,  from  Vincennes,  July  30,  17S0 — "Draper  Coll.,  Clark 
MSS.,"   L.,  51.       A  copy,  incomplete  and  not  exact,  is  in  Ibid.,  XXVI.,  S5. 


THE   COUNTY   OF   ILLINOIS.  35 

his  Plan."  After  thoroughly  stirring  up  the  people  at 
Vincennes,  the  adventurer  left,  with  an  escort  of  thirty 
French  and  Indians,  to  visit  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  and 
St.  Louis.  He  and  Col.  Montgomery,  then  the  superior 
officer  in  Illinois,  did  not  meet,  and  he  received  not  the 
slightest  countenance  from  the  Spanish  commandant  at 
St.  Louis.  By  the  French  inhabitants,  La  Balme  "was 
received  ....  just  as  the  Jews  would  receive  the 
Messiah  —  was  conducted  from  the  post  here  [at  Kaskas- 
kia] by  a  large  detachment  of  the  inhabitants  as  well  as 
different  tribes  of  Indians."  The  French  in  the  towns 
near  the  Mississippi  were  so  enthusiastic  that  La  Balme 
had  little  difficulty  in  raising  forty  or  fifty  troops  for  an 
expedition  against  Detroit.  Some  of  the  American 
soldiers  at  Cahokia  deserted  to  him,  and  when  placed 
under  arrest  by  the  military  authorities  were  rescued  by  a 
mob.  On  October  5,  1780,  after  telling  the  Indians  to  be 
quiet  because  they  would  see  the  French  in  Illinois  in  the 
spring,  the  French  troops  set  out  from  Cahokia.1 

The  troops  from  Illinois  were  to  be  joined  by  a  body 
from  Vincennes,  but  without  waiting  for  them  La  Balme 
pushed  on  to  the  Miami  towns,  where  he  hoped  to  capture 
a  British  Indian  trader  who  was  especially  hated  by  the 
French.  The  trader  was  not  found,  but  his  store  of  goods 
to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  horse- loads  was  seized. 
The  expected  reinforcements  not  arriving,  La  Balme  felt 
too  weak  to  attack  Detroit  and  started  to  return.  He  was 
attacked  by  the  Indians  on  the  river  Aboite,  eleven  miles 
southwest  of  the  present  Fort  Wayne,  and   he  and   some 

1.  Extracts  from  Capt.  McCarty's  Journal,  at  Kaskaskia  —  "Draper  Coll., 
Clark  MSS.,"  XXVI. ,  85-6;  McCarty  to  Todd,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  14, 
1780 — "Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  I.,  380;  Winston  to  Todd,  from  Kaskas- 
kia, Oct.  24,  1780  —  Ibid,  I.,  381-2  ;  Auguste  St.  Jemme,  son  of  an  inhabitant 
of  Kaskaskia,  to  Lyman  C.  Draper — "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  1851,"  I.,  4S-9 
—  "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  XXVI.,  82. 


2,6  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

thirty  of  his  men  were  killed  and  at  least  one  hundred 
horses,  richly  laden  with  plunder,  were  taken  by  the 
Indians.  It  was  reported  that  disaffected  inhabitants  of 
Detroit  had  concealed  five  hundred  stands  of  arms  with 
which  to  assist  the  forces  of  La  Balme  in  taking  the  place. 
Among  La  Balme's  papers,  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
British  and  are  now  in  the  Canadian  archives,  were 
addresses,  in  French,  by  M.  Mottin'de  la  Balme,  French 
colonel,  etc.,  to  the  French  settled  on  the  Mississippi,  dated 
St.  Louis,  September  17,  1780;  a  declaration,  in  French, 
in  the  name  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Cahokia, 
addressed  to  La  Balme:  "We  unanimously  request  you  to 
listen  with  a  favorable  ear  to  the  declaration  which  we 
venture  to  present  to  you,  touching  all  the  bad  treatment 
we  have  suffered  patiently  since  the  Virginian  troops  unfor- 
tunately arrived  amongst  us  till  now,"  dated  Cahokia, 
September  21,  1 780;  a  note  from  F.  Trottier,  a  member 
of  the  court  of  Cahokia,  elected  under  the  Virginia  gov- 
ernment, to  La  Balme,  saying  that  no  meeting  can  be  held 
until  Sunday  next,  when  he  hopes  the  young  men  will 
show  themselves  worthy  the  high  idea  La  Balme  has  of 
them,  but  that  at  present  there  are  only  twelve  entirely 
determined  to  follow  him  wherever  he  goes,  although 
others  may  follow  their  example,  and  asking  La  Balme 
to  receive  depositions  against  the  Virginians,  dated 
Cahokia,  September  27,  1780;  a  petition,  in  French, 
addressed  to  the  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne,  minister  plenipo- 
tentiary from  France  to  the  United  States,  by  inhabitants 
of  Post  Vincennes,  dated  Vincennes,  August  22,  1780; 
and  a  commission  to  Augustin  Mottin  de  la  Balme  as 
quartermaster  of  gendarmerie,  dated  Versailles,  February 
23,  1/66. T     The  British  promptly  set  about  promoting  the 

1.    De  Peyster   to    Powell,  from   Detroit,  Nov.  13,  1780 — "Mich.    Pioneer 
Coll.,"  XIX.,  581  ;  Same  to  Haldimand,  Nov.   16,  1780  — /<£/'</.,  X.,  448-9; 


THE   COUNTY   OF    ILLINOIS.  37 

Indian  trader  whom  La  Balme  and  the  French  had  sought 
to  kill,  believing  that  he  would  be  serviceable  as  a  spy.1 

In  the  autumn  of  1780,  a  part)'  of  seventeen  men  from 
Cahokia  went  on  an  expedition  against  St.  Josephs.  The 
party  was  commanded  by  "a  half  Indian,"  and  seems  to 
have  included  but  one  American.  The  attack  was  so 
timed  as'  to  come  when  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  St. 
Josephs  were  out  hunting.  The  place  was  taken  without 
difficulty,  the  traders  of  the  place  were  captured  and  plun- 
dered, and  the  party,  laden  with  booty,  set  out  on  the 
route  to  Chicago.  A  pursuing  party  was  quickly  organized 
and  at  the  Riviere  du  Chemin,  a  small  stream  in  Indiana, 
emptying  into  the  southeastern  part  of  Lake  Michigan, 
the  returning  victors  were  summoned  to  surrender,  on 
December  5,  1780.  Upon  their  refusal,  four  were  killed, 
two  wounded,  seven  made  prisoners,  while  three  escaped.2 

Linctot  to  Slaughter,  "  O'Post,"  Jan.  11,  1781 — "  Cal.  of  Ya.  State  Papers, " 
I.,  429;  J.  L.  William  to  Lyman  C.  Draper,  from  Fort  Wayne,  Ind., 
Oct.  1,  iSSr  —  "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  XXVI.,  92;  McCarty  to 
Slaughter,  from  111.,  Jan.  27,  1781  —  "Cal.  of  Ya.  .State  Papers,"  I.,  465; 
Col.  Brodhead  to  Washington,  from  Fort  Pitt,  Mar.  10,  17S1,  "Olden 
Time,"  II.,  391  ;  Col.  Levin  Powell,  from  Harrodsburg,  Jan.  21,  17S1  — 
"Pa.  Archives,"  VIII.,  76S';  De  Peyster  to  Haldimand,  from  Detroit,  Nov. 
13,  1780,  Farmer  "Hist,  of  Detroit  and  Michigan,"  257 ;  Letter  from  J. 
M.  P.  Legras,  from  Yincennes,  Dec.  1,  17S0  — "  Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.," 
L.,  77,  original  corrected  draft;  "Rept.  on  Canadian  Archives,"  iSSS,. 
904-5;  extract  from  "Scot's  Magazine,"  May,  17S1,  in  "Draper  Coll., Clark 
MSS,"  XXVI.,  82.  Y.'hether  La  Balme  had  any  countenance  from  either 
the  French  government  or  its  representatives  is  an  unsettled  question.  That 
France  should  regain  her  hold  in  America  was  desired  by  many  Frenchmen, 
but  on  the  other  hand,  the  French  government  was  pledged  by  its  treaty  of 
alliance  to  make  no  acquisitions  of  territory  in  America.  The  following 
references  raise  the  question,  but  I  know  of  none  which  settle  it :  Kingsford, 
"Canada,"  VI.,  342-3;  Sparks,  "Washington,"  VI.,  106  ff.,  113;  Stevens, 
"Facsimiles,"  XVII.,  No.  1609;  "  Secret  Jour,  of  Cong.,"  II.,  iii-i  17,  125. 

1.  Haldimand  to  De  Peyster,  from  Quebec,  Jan.  6,  1781  —  "Mich.  Pioneer 
Coll.,"  IX.,  641. 

2.  This  amounts  to  but  sixteen  men.  De  Peyster  says  that  the  party  was 
one  of  sixteen  ;  McCarty  says  there  were  seventeen. 


38  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

The  one  American,  Brady,  was  among  the  prisoners.  He 
told  the  British  that  the  party  was  sent  by  the  Creoles  to 
plunder  St.  Josephs,  and  that  there  was  not  a  Virginian  in 
all  the  Illinois  country,  including  Vincennes.1 

In  the  very  midst  of  winter,  on  January  2,  1 78 1,  an 
expedition  commanded  by  Eugenio  Pierre,  a  Spanish  cap- 
tain of  militia,  set  out  from  St.  Louis  against  St.  Josephs. 
According  to  a  Spanish  account,  the  party  consisted  of 
sixty-five  militia  men  and  sixty  Indians,  while  an  American 
account  declares  it  to  have  contained  thirty  Spaniards, 
twenty  men  from  Cahokia,  and  two  hundred  Indians. 

The  purpose  of  the  expedition  was  to  retaliate  upon  the 
British  for  the  attack  on  St.  Louis  and  for  the  defeat  of 
La  Balme.  On  the  march,  severe  difficulties  incident  to 
the  season  were  encountered.  The  post  was  easily  taken, 
the  Indians  were  conciliated  by  a  liberal  proportion  of  the 
booty,  the  Spanish  flag  was  raised  and  the  Illinois  country 
with  St.  Josephs  and  its  dependencies  was  claimed  for  the 
crown  of  Spain.  The  British  flag  was  given  to  Comman- 
dant Cruzat,  of  St.  Louis.  These  proceedings  made  some 
prominent  Americans  fear  that  Spain  would  advance 
claims  to  the  region  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution.2 

1.  McCarty  to  Slaughter,  from  111.,  Jan.  27,  1781- — "  Cal.  of  Va.  State 
Papers,"  I.,  465;  Sinclair  to  Mathews,  from  Michilimackinac,  Feb.  23,  1781 
—  "Mich.  Pioneer  Coll.,"  IX.,  629;  De  Peyster  to  Powell,  from  Detroit,  Jan. 
8,  1781 — Ibid.,  XIX.,  591-2;  Same  to  Haldimand,  same  date  —  Ibid.,  X., 
450-1  ;  Same  to  McKee,  from  Detroit,  Feb.  1,  17S1  —  De  Peyster,  "Miscel- 
lanies," p.  xxvi.  ;  Linctot  to  commanding  officer  at  the  Falls  of  Ohio, 
"Opost  Vincennes,"  Jan.  13,  17S1 — "Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  I.,  432; 
Draper  on  date  of  the  expedition,  "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  XXVI. ,  88; 
De  Peyster  to  Powell,  from  Detroit,  Mar.  17,  17S1  —  "Mich.  Pioneer  Coll.," 
XIX.,  600;  Sinclair  to  Powell,  from  Michilimackinac  Id.,  May  1,  1781  — 
Ibid.,  XIX.,  632;  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  216. 

2.  Jay  to  Livingston,  from  Madrid,  Apr.  28,  17S2  —  "Secret  Jour,  of 
•Cong.,"  IV.,  64;  or  Wharton,  "Dipl.  Corr.  of  the  Am.  Rev.,"  V.,  363-4; 
or  Sparks,  Ibid.,   VIII. ,   76-8;    McCarty  to  Slaughter,    from  111.,  Jan.   27, 


THE    COUNTY    OF    ILLINOIS.  39 

In  the  summer  of  17S1,  a  party  of  seven  men  was  sent 
out  by  the  commandant  at  Michilimackinac  with  a  letter 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia  asking  them 
to  furnish  troops  to  be  paid  by  the  king  of  England,  and 
to  assume  the  defensive  against  the  Spaniards.  The  men 
reached  St.  Louis  before  visiting  Cahokia  or  Kaskaskia, 
and  were  arrested  by  the  Spanish  commandant,  who  sent 
a  copy  of  the  letter  to  Major  Williams,  knowing  no  officer 
in  Illinois  superior  to  him.  This  created  jealousy  at 
Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia,  each  of  several  officers  claiming 
superiority.  Charles  Gratiot,  a  man  of  some  ability,  who 
had  removed  from  Cahokia  to  St.  Louis  because  unable  to 
endure  the  lawlessness  at  the  former  place,  wrote  that  he 
did  not  know  what  course  the  Illinois  people  might  have 
taken  if  Cruzat  had  not  intercepted  the  British  agents. 
Illinois  was  a  country  without  a  head  where  everyone 
expected  to  do  as  he  pleased.1 

In  noting  the  operations  of  the  medley  of  military 
forces  in  the  County  of  Illinois,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  how 
the  result  might  have  been  different,  but  the  fact  is  that  as 
the  county  ceased  to  exist,  no  nation  had  established  a 
better  title  to  the  region  than  that  of  the  Americans. 

17S1  —  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i860,"  III.,  1-2;  incomplete  copy  in  "  Cal.  of 
Va. .  State  Papers,"  I.,  465;  Linctot  to  commanding  officer  at  Falls  of  Ohio, 
from  Vincennes,  Jan.  13,  1781 — "Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  I.,  432;  Frank- 
lin to  Livingston,  from  Passy,  Apr.  12,  17S2  —  Sparks,  "Dipl.  Corr.  of  the 
Am.  Rev.,"  III.,  339.  See  also  Ibid.,  VIIL,  150;  Sparks,  "Franklin's 
Works,"  IX.,  206,  Boston,  1S56. 

1.    Linctot  to  ,  from  St.  Louis,  July  3 1,1781  —  "Draper  Coll.,  Clark 

MSS.,"  LI.,  75,  original  MS.  in  French;  Gratiot  to  Clark,  from  St.  Louis, 
Aug.  1,  17S1 — Ibid.,  LI.,  77,  original  MS.  in  French. 


CHAPTER  II. 


The  Period  of-  Anarchy  in  Illinois1 

ILLINOIS  was  practical!}'  in  a  state  of  anarchy  during 
the  time  that  it  was  a  county  of  Virginia,  and  when 
that  county  ceased  to  be,  anarchy  became  technically  as 
well  as  practically  its  condition,  and  remained  so  until 
government  under  the  Ordinance  of  17S7  was  inaugura- 
ted in    1790. 

Virginia's  legacy  from  her  ephemeral  count}"  was  one 
of  unpaid  bills.  Scarcely  had  the  general  assembly 
adjourned,  in  January,  1782,  when  Benjamin  Harrison 
wrote:  "We  know  of  no  power  given  to  any  person  to 
draw  bills  on  the  State  but  to  Col°  Clarke  and  yet  we  find 
them  drawn  to  an  immense  amount  by  Col°  Montgomery, 
and  Captn  Robt.  George  and  some  others;  we  have  but 
too  much  reason  to  suppose  a  collusion  and  fraud  betwixt 
the  drawers  and  those  they  are  made  payable  to;  most  of 
them  are  for  specie  when  they  well  knew  we  had  none 
amongst  us,  and  from  the  largeness  of  the  sums,  proves 
the  transactions  must  have  been  in  paper  and  the  depre- 
ciation taken  into  account,  when  the  bargains  were  made; 
indeed  George  confesses  this  to  have  been  the  case  when 
he  gave  Philip  Barbour  a  bill  for  two  hundred  and  thirty 
two  thousand,  three  hundred  and  twenty  Dollars  and  uses 
the  plea  of  ignorance."  The  transactions  of  Oliver 
Pollock,  purchasing  agent  at  New  Orleans,  should  be  care- 
fully examined  from  the  time  he  began  to  act  with  Mont- 

1.    This  chapter  was  read,  by  request,  before  the  Wisconsin  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, Arts,  and  Letters,  on  February  8,   1906. 

40 


ANARCHY    IN    ILLINOIS.  41 

g'omery.1  Thimothe  Demunbrunt,  as  he  signed  his  name, 
asked  pay  for  his  services  as  lieutenant,  in  order  that  he 
might  not  be  a  charge  to  his  friends — a  thing  which 
would  be  shameful  to  one  of  noble  descent.  He  wished  to 
be  able  to  support  his  family  and  to  go  with  Clark  on  a 
proposed  expedition.  His  petition  was  supported  by  a 
certificate  from  Col.  Montgomery,  testifying  that  Demun- 
brunt had  been  active  in  his  military  duty,  had  gone 
against  the  savages  in  the  spring  of  1780,  had  gone  on  the 
"Expedition  up  the  Wabash,"  and  had  gone  to  the  relief 
of  Fort  Jefferson  when  Montgomery  could  raise  only 
twelve   men.2 

The  military  troubles  continued.  The  commander  at 
Vincennes  reported  his  troops  as  destitute  and  unpaid. 
Richard  Winston,  of  Kaskaskia,  who  had  succeeded  Todd 
as  head  of  the  civil  government  in  Illinois,  was  arrested 
by  military  force  and  put  in  jail.  The  prisoner  claimed 
that  the  proceedings  were  wholly  irregular  and  that  he 
was  unacquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  charge  against 

1.  In  Council,  Jan.  29,  17S2  —  "Draper  Coll., Clark  MSS.,"  XLVL,  69, 
original  MS. 

2.  Demunbrunt  to  Clark,  from  Kaskaskia,  Mar.  5,  1782 — "Draper  Coll., 
Clark  MSS.,"  L.,  70';  LI.,  25,  original  MS.  Demunbrunt,  whose  name 
also  appears  as  Demunbrun  and  De  Munbrun,  was  prominent  in  early  Illinois 
history.  Records  signed  by  him  as  Lieutenant  Commandant  par  interim 
appear  in  "John  Todd's  Record -Book"  under  the  dates  June  14,  1779,  Feb'y, 
1782,  and  March  22,  1782.  In  17S3,  1784,  and  probably  at  other  dates,  he 
made  grants  of  land  in  the  Illinois  country.  He  served  under  Clark.  From 
the  time  Winston  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  County  of  Illinois, 
until  the  coming  of  St.  Clair,  Demunbrunt  was  "commandant  of  the  village  of 
Kaskaskia  and  its  dependencies."  He  had  important  dealings  with  an 
embassy  from  the  Cherokee  Indians.  He  was  allowed  land  under  the  Vir- 
ginia grants.  In  his  memorial  to  the  General  Assembly,  he  said :  "Your 
memorialist,  little  acquainted  with  the  mode  of  doing  business  in  this  State, 
never  kept  a  regular  account,  depending  altogether  on  the  justice  and  generos- 
ity of  the  Legislature"  —  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i860, "  V.,  15-18;  "Chicago 
Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  315-16;  "Pub.  Lands,"  II.,  146. 

4 


42  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

him.1  The  next  year,  he  was  accused  of  treason,  the 
accuser  declaring" that  Winston  had  proposed  to  turn  Illi- 
nois over  to  Spain,  but  that  his  proposal  had  been  des- 
pised by  the  Spanish  commandant.2  Upon  Winston  was 
also  laid  the  chief  blame  for  the  discontent  of  the  French, 
he  being  charged  with  having  told  Montgomery  that  the 
French  were  strangers  to  liberty  and  must  be  ruled  with  a 
rod  of  iron  or  the  bayonet,  and  that  if  he  wanted  anything 
he  must  send  his  guards  and  take  it  by  force;  while,  at 
the  same  time,  he  told  the  French  that  the  military  was  a 
band  of  robbers  and  came  to  Illinois  for  plunder.3  How- 
ever, numerous  and  well-founded  as  the  accusations  might 
be,  both  accused  and  accuser  laid  their  claims  for  salary 
before  the  Virginia  Board  of  Commissioners  for  the  Set- 
tlement of  Western  Accounts.4  Even  the  notorious  Col. 
Montgomery  presented  before  this  board  his  defence, 
which  consisted  of  a  recital  of  his  meritorious  deeds,  others 
being  omitted.5 

Another  visitor  to  the  Board  of  Commissioners  was 
Francis  Carbonneaux,  prothonotary  and  notary  public  for 
the  Illinois  country.  Although  he  came  to  get  some 
private  affairs  settled,  his  chief  mission  was  to  lay  before 
the  Board  the  confusion  in  Illinois,  and  the  Board  correctly 
surmised  that  if  Virginia  did  not  afford  relief  the  messenger 

1.  Todd  to  Winston,  June  15,  1779,  in  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV., 
302;  Legras  to  Clark,  from  Vincennes,  Dec.  31,  1782  —  "Draper  Coll.,  Clark 
MSS.,"  LIL,  67,  original  MS.;  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll., "IV.,  289. 

2.  Letter  from  Capt.  Dodge,  from  Kaskaskia,  Mar.  6,  1783  —  "Draper 
Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  LX.,  No.  3,  p.  48. 

3.  Dodge  to  Clark,  from  Kaskaskia,  Mar.  3,  1783  —  Ibid.,  LIL,  78. 

4.  Officers  to  Clark,  from  Ft.  Nelson,  Falls  of  Ohio,  March  30,  17S3 
—Ibid.,  LIL,  So. 

5.  Montgomery  to  Board  of  Commissioners,  from  New  Holland,  Feb.  22, 
1783  —  "Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  III.,  441-4. 


ANARCHY    IN    ILLINOIS.  43 

would  proceed  to  Congress.1  It  was  but  natural  that  at 
this  time,  the  people  of  Illinois  should  be  in  doubt  as  to 
whom  to  present  their  petition,  because  Virginia  had 
offered  to  cede  her  western  lands  to  Congress,  although 
the  terms  of  cession  were  not  yet  agreed  upon.  Car- 
bonneaux  complained  that  Illinois  was  wholly  without  law 
or  government;  that  the  magistrates,  from  indolence  or 
sinister  views,  had  for  some  time  been  lax  in  the  execu- 
tion of  their  duties,  and  were  now  altogether  without 
authority;  that  crimes  of  the  greatest  enormity  might  be 
committed  with  impunity,  and  a  man  be  murdered  in  his 
own  house  and  no  one  regard  it;  that  there  was  neither 
sheriff  nor  prison;  and  to  crown  the  general  confusion, 
that  many  persons  had  made  large  purchases  of  three 
and  four  hundred  leagues,  and  were  endeavoring  to  have 
themselves  established  lords  of  the  soil,  as  some  had  done 
in  Canada,  and  to  have  settlements  made  on  these  pur- 
chases, composed  of  a  set  of  men  wholly  subservient  to 
their  views.  The  Spanish  traded  freely  in  Illinois,  but 
strictly  prohibited  Illinois  from  trading  in  Spanish  domin- 
ions. Complaint  was  also  made  that  the  Board  of 
Commissioners  had  not  settled  the  Illinois  accounts  in 
peltry  according  to  the  known  rule  and  practice,  namely: 
that  fifty  pounds  of  peltry  should  represent  one  hundred 
livres  in  money. 

The  petitioners  prayed  that  a  president  of  judicature 
be  sent  to  them,  with  executive  powers  to  a  certain 
extent,  and  that  subordinate  civil  officers  be  appointed,  to 
reside  in  each  village  or  station,  with  power  to  hear  and 
decide  all  causes  upon  obligations  not  exceeding  three 
hundred  dollars,  higher  amounts  to  be  determined  by  a 
court  to  be  held  at  Kaskaskia  and  to  be  composed  of  the 
president    and    a    majority    of    the    magistrates.     It    was 

i.  Board  of  Commissioners  to  Gov.  Benjamin  Harrison,  from  Jefferson 
county,  Feb.  17,  1783  —  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  350-1. 


44  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

desired  that  the  grant  in  which  the  Kaskaskia  settlements 
lay  should  be  considered  as  one  district.  It  contained  five 
villages,  of  which  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia  were  the 
largest.  The  grant  extended  to  the  headwaters  of  the 
Illinois  River  on  the  north.  The  land  had  been  granted 
to  the  settlers  by  the  Indians,  and  the  Indians,  having 
given  their  consent  by  solemn  treaties,  had  never  denied 
the  sale.  The  tract  referred  to  was  probably  the  two 
purchases  of  the  Illinois  Company.  Maps  give  but  one  of 
these  and,  in  fact,  the  other  was  said  to  be  so  described  as 
to  comprise  a  line  only.  Naturally,  this  fact  was  not 
known  at  the  time  of  purchase. 

It  was  frankly  acknowledged  that  Illinois  had  no  man 
fitted  for  the  office  of  president.  It  was  hoped  that  Vir- 
ginia would  furnish  one,  and  would  send  with  him  a 
company  of  regulars  to  act  under  his  direction  and  enforce 
laws  and  authority.  The  president  should  be  empow- 
ered to  grant  land  in  small  tracts  to  immigrants.  The 
privilege  of  trading  in  Spanish  waters,  especially  on  the 
Missouri,  was  much  desired.  It  was  said  that  Carbonneaux 
"appears  to  have  been  instructed  as  to  the  ground  of  his 
message  by  the  better  disposed  part  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country  whose  complaints  he  represents."1 

At  the  time  of  Carbonneaux's  petition,  there  was  no  legal 
way  by  which  newcomers  to  Illinois  could  acquire  public 
land.  Virginia  had  prepared  to  open  a  land- office,  soon 
after  the  conquest  of  the  Illinois  country,  but  she  seems 
to  have  heeded  the  recommendation  of  Congress  that  no 
unappropriated  land  be  sold  during  the  war.2  Some  grants 
had  been  made  by  Todd,  Demunbrunt,  the  Indians,  and 
others  with  less  show  of  right,  but  they  were  made  without 

i.  Walker  Daniel  to  Board  of  Commissioners,  from  New  Holland,  Feb. 
3,  1783— "Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers,"  III.,  430-2. 
2.   "Jour,  of  Cong.,"  III.,  383-5. 


ANARCHY   IN   ILLINOIS.  45 

governmental  authority.  The  Indians  had  presented  a 
tract  of  land  to  Clark,  but  the  view  consistently  held  was 
that  individuals  could  not  receive  Indian  land  merely  upon 
their  own  initiative.1  One  of  the  grants  made  at  Vin- 
cennes,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  typical  one,  was 
signed  by  Le  Grand,  "Colonel  commandant  and  President 
of  the  Court,"  and  was  made  by  the  authority  granted  to 
the  magistrates  of  the  court  of  Vincennes  by  John  Todd, 
"'Colonel  and  Grand  civil  Judge  for  the  United  States." 
The  purpose  of  the  grant,  which  comprised  four  hundred 
arpents  "in  circumference,"  was  to  induce  immigration.2 
The  grants  made  by  the  court  of  Vincennes  became 
notorious  from  the  fact  that  thousands  of  acres  were 
granted  by  the  court  to  its  own  members.3 

On  March  I,  1784,  Virginia  ceded  her  western  lands  to 
the  United  States,  thus  transferring  to  the  general  govern- 
ment the  question  of  land  titles.  The  country  had  been 
in  a  state  of  unconcealed  anarchy  for  more  than  two 
years,  all  semblance  of  Virginia  authority  having  ceased, 
and  the  cession  is  quite  as  much  a  tribute  to  Virginia's 
shrewdness  as  to  her  generosity.  Never  was  so  large  a 
present  made  with  less  sacrifice.  The  cession  was  made 
with  the  following  conditions,  some  of  which  were  to  have 
a  direct  and  potent  influence  upon  the  settlement  of  the 
ceded  region: 

1.  The  territory  should  be  formed  into  states  of  not  less 
than  one  hundred  nor  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
square  miles  each; 

2.  Virginia's  expenses  in  subduing  and  governing  the 
territory  should  be  reimbursed  by  the  United  States; 

1.  "Jour.  H.  of  Del.,"  Va.,  May  Sess.,  1780,  25,  69,  70. 

2.  Law,  "The  Colonial  Hist,  of  Vincennes,"  1858,  117-8,  gives  a  copy  of 
the  deed.      For  claims  under  such  deeds  see  "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  294-8. 

3.  "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  301. 


46  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

3.  Settlers  should  have  their  "possessions  and  titles 
confirmed ;" 

4.  One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres,  or  less,  should 
be  granted  to  George  Rogers  Clark  and  his  soldiers; 

5.  The  Virginia  military  bounty  lands  should  be  located 
north  of  the  Ohio  River,  unless  there  should  prove  to  be 
enough  land  for  the  purpose  south  of  that  river; 

6.  The  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the  lands  should  be 
for  the  United  States,  severally.1 

In  the  year  of  the  Virginia  cession,  Congress  passed  the 
Ordinance  for  the  Government  of  the  Western  Territory, 
but  as  it  never  went  into  effect,  its  importance  is  slight 
except  as  indicative  of  the  trend  of  public  feeling  on  the 
subjects  which  it  involved.  Should  Jefferson's  plan, 
proposed  at  this  time,  have  been  carried  out,  Illinois  would 
have  been  parts  of  the  states  of  Polypotamia,  Illinois, 
Assenisipia,  and  Saratoga.2 

Carbonneaux,  the  messenger  from  Illinois  to  Virginia, 
carried  his  petition  to  Congress.  Congress  paid  the  mes- 
senger, referred  the  petition  to  a  committee,  and  upon  the 
report  of  the  committee  voted  to  choose  one  or  more 
commissioners  to  go  to  Illinois  and  investigate  conditions 
there.3  No  record  of  the  appointment  of  such  commis- 
sioners has  been  found.  Congress  considered  Carbon- 
neaux's  petition  early  in  1785.  In  November  of  the  same 
year  comes  a  record  of  the  anarchy  in  Illinois.  This  was 
addressed  to  George  Rogers  Clark,  who  was  the  hope  of 
the  people  of  that  neglected  country.  "The  commandant 
at  St.  Louis  is  afraid  of  an  attack  from  the  Royalists  at 
Michilimackinac,  or  he  has  given  orders  for  all  the  people 

1.  "Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  342-4. 

2.  Ibid.,  IV.,  379 -So;  Thwaites,  "The  Boundaries  of  Wisconsin,"  in 
"Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  XL,  452,  gives  a  map  of  Jefferson's  proposed  states. 

3.  "Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  473,  477. 


ANARCHY   IN    ILLINOIS.  47 

ill  that  place  to  be  in  readiness  when  called  on,  with  their 
arms. 

"The  Indians  are  very  troublesome  on  the  rivers,  and 
declare  an  open  war  with  the  Americans,  which  I  am  sure 
is  nothing  lessened  by  the  advice  of  our  neighbors,  the 
French  in  this  place,  and  the  people  from  Michilimackinac, 
who  openly  say  they  will  oppose  all  the  Americans  that 
come  into  this  country.  For  my  part,  it  is  impossible  to 
live  here,  if  we  have  not  regular  justice  very  soon.  They 
are  worse  than  the  Indians,  and  ought  to  be  ruled  with  a 
rod  of  iron."1 

During  the  year  1786,  George  Rogers  Clark  was  the 
chief  factor  in  Illinois  affairs.  He  was  regarded  by  the 
people  as  their  advocate  before  Congress.  In  March, 
seven  of  the  leading  men  of  Vincennes,  at  the  request  of 
the  French  and  American  inhabitants,  sent  a  petition  to 
him  asking  him  to  persuade  Congress  to  send  troops  to 
defend  them  from  the  Indians,  and  also  saying:  "We 
have  unanimously  agreed  to  present  a  petition  to  Congress 
for  relief,  apprehensive  that  the  Deed  we  received  from  an 
office,  established  or  rather  continued  by  Col°  Todd  for 
lands,  may  possibly  be  a  slender  foundation;  so  that  after 
we  have  passed  through  a  scene  of  suffering  in  forming 
settlements  in  a  remote  and  dangerous  part  may  have  the 
mortification  to  be  totally  deprived  of  our  improvements."2 
In  June,  seventy- one  American  subscribers  from  Vin- 
cennes, "in  the  County  of  Illinois,"  asked  Congress  to 
settle  their  land-titles  and  give  them  a  government. 
They  held  land  from  grants  from  an  office  established  by 
Col.  Todd,  whose  validity    they    questioned.     The    com- 

1.  John  Edgar  to  Clark,  from  Kaskaskia,  Nov.  7,  1785  —  "Draper's 
Notes,  Trip  i860,"  VI.,  214-5. 

2.  Petition  to  Clark,  from  Vincennes,  Mar.  16,  17S6  —  "Draper  Coll., 
Clark  MSS.,"  LIIL,  23. 


48  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

mandant  and  magistracy  had  resigned  because  of  the 
disobedience  of  the  people.  There  was  no  executive,  no 
law,  no  government,  and  the  Indians  were  very  hostile.1 

Clark  was  not  unmindful  of  the  needs  of  the  people- 
He  wrote  to  the  president  of  Congress:  "The  inhabitants 
of  the  different  towns  in  the  Illinois  are  worthy  the 
attention  of  Congress.  They  have  it  in  their  power  to  be 
of  infinite  service  to  us,  and  might  act  as  a  great  barrier  to 
the  frontier,  if  under  proper  regulation ;  but  having  no 
law  or  government  among  them,  they  are  in  great  confu- 
sion, and  without  the  authority  of  Congress  is  extended 
to  them,  they  must,  in  all  probability,  fall  a  sacrifice  to  the 
savages,  who  may  take  advantage  of  the  disorder  and 
want  of  proper  authority  in  that  country.  I  have  recom- 
mended it  to  them,  to  re-assume  their  former  customs, 
and  appoint  temporary  officers  until  the  pleasure  of 
Congress  is  known,  which  I  have  flattered  them  would  be 
in  a  short  time.  How  far  the  recommendation  will  answer 
the  desired  purpose  is  not  yet  known."2 

Clark's  fears  of  the  Indians  were  only  too  well  grounded. 
During  the  summer,  the  American  settlers  were  compelled 
to  retire  to  a  fort  at  Bellefontaine,  and  four  of  their  number 
were  killed.  At  the  same  time,  about  twenty  Americans 
were  killed  about  Vincennes.  The  French  were  still  safe 
from  Indian  attacks  and  were  very  angry  because  the 
Americans  complained  of  existing  conditions.3  The  strife 
between  the  French  and  the  Americans  at  Vincennes,  over 
the  proper  relations  of  the  whites  to  the  Indians,  became 
intense.     The  French  contended  that  the  Indians  should 

1.  Petition  to    Congress,  from  Vincennes,  June  I,  1786 — Ibid.,  LIIL,  31. 

2.  Clark  to    Richard    H.   Lee,   pres.  of  Cong.,    from   Louisville,   received 
June  8,  1786  —  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i85o,"  VI.,  208-9. 

3.  Moses    Henry    to    Clark,    from    Vincennes,    June    12,    17S6  —  "Draper 
Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  LIIL,  32. 


ANARCHY    IN    ILLINOIS.  49 

be  allowed  to  come  and  .go  freely,  while  the  Americans 
held  that  it  was  unsafe  to  grant  such  freedom.  At  last, 
upon  the  occasion  of  the  killing  of  an  Indian  by  the 
Americans,  after  they  had  been  attacked  by  the  Indians, 
the  French  citizens  ordered  all  persons,  who  had  not  per- 
mission to  settle  from  the  government  under  which  they 
last  resided,  to  leave  at  once  and  at  their  own  risk.  The 
French  told  the  Americans  plainly  that  they  were  not 
wanted,  and  that  they,  the  French,  did  not  know  whether 
the  place  belonged  to  the  United  States  or  to  Great 
Britain.1  This  last  assertion  was  probably  true.  The 
British  Michilimackinac  Company  had  a  large  trading- 
house  at  Cahokia  for  supplying  the  Indians,  they  held 
Detroit,  and  their  machinations  among  the  Indians  were 
constant.  The  feeling  of  all  intelligent  Americans  in 
Illinois  must  have  been  expressed  by  John  Edgar  when 
he  wrote  that  the  Illinois  country  was  totally  lost  unless  a 
government  should  soon  be  established.2  Clark  wrote  a 
vigorous  letter  to  the  people  at  Vincennes,  telling  them 
that  unless  they  stopped  quarreling  military  rule  would 
be  established;  that  the  government  established  under 
Virginia  was  still  in  force,  having  been  confirmed  by 
Congress  upon  the  acceptance  of  the  Virginia  deed  of 
cession,  and  that  the  court,  if  depleted,  should  be  filled  by 
election  3 

In  one  respect,  even  during  this  trying  period,  the 
western  country  gave  promise  of  its  future  growth. 
There  was  a  large  crop.  Flour  and  pork,  quoted, 
strangely  enough,  together,  sold  at  the  Falls  of  Ohio  at 

1.  Daniel  Sullivan  to  Clark,  from  Vincennes,  June  23,  1786  —  "Draper 
Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  LIII.,  35;  John  Small  to  Clark,  same  place  and  day — 
Ibid.,  LIII.,  36, 

2.  John  Edgar  to  Clark,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  23,  17S6 — Ibid.,  LIII.,  56. 

3.  Clark  to  people  of  Vincennes  —  Ibid.,  LIII.,  52. 


50  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

twelve  shillings  per  hundred  pounds,  while  Indian  corn 
sold  at  nine  pence  per  bushel.1 

On  August  24,  1786,  Congress  ordered  its  secretary  to 
inform  the  inhabitants  of  Kaskaskia  that  a  government  was 
being  prepared  for  them.2  In  1787,  conditions  in  the  Illi- 
nois country  became  too  serious  to  be  ignored.  The  Indian 
troubles  were  grave  and  persistent,  but  graver  still  was 
the  danger  of  the  rebellion  or  secession  of  the  Western 
Country  or  else  of  a  war  with  Spain.  The  closure  of  the 
Mississippi  by  Spain  made  the  West  desperate.  Discon- 
tent, anarchy,  and  petitions  might  drag  a  weary  length, 
but  when  troops  raised  -without  authority  were  quartered 
at  Vincennes,  when  these  troops  seized  Spanish  goods,  and 
impressed  the  property  of  the  inhabitants  of  Vincennes, 
and  proposed  to  treat  with  the  Indians,  the  time  for  action 
was  at  hand.  In  April,  Gen.  Josiah  Harmar,  then  at  Falls 
of  Ohio,  was  ordered  to  moVe  the  greater  part  of  his 
troops  to  Vincennes  to  restore  order  among  the  distracted 
people  at  that  place.  Intruders  upon  the  public  lands 
were  to  be  removed,  and  the  lawless  and  illegally  levied 
troops  were  to  be  dispersed.3 

Arrived  at  Vincennes,  Gen.  Harmar  proceeded  with 
vigor.  The  resolution  of  Congress  against  intruders  on 
the  public  lands  was  published  in  English  and  in  French. 
The  inhabitants,  especially  the  Americans  whose  hold  on 
their  lands  was  the  more  insecure,  were  dismayed,  and 
French  and  Americans  each  prepared  a  petition  to  Con- 

1.  Letter  from  a  man  at  Falls  of  Ohio  to  a  friend  in  N.  England,  Dec.  4, 
1786 — "Secret  Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  321. 

2.  "Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  6S8-9. 

3.  Harmar  to  Sec'y  of  War,  from  Fort  Harmar,  May  14,  1787 — "St. 
Clair  Papers,"  II.,  20-1  ;  Maj.  Wyllys  to  Harmar,  from  Fort  Finney,  Rapids 
of  Ohio,  Feb.  6,  1787 — "Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  I.,  2S1-2;  Knox  to 
Harmar,  June  19,  1787  —  Ibid.,  I.,  303.  See  also  Ibid.,  I.,  290;  Sec'y  of 
War  to  Harmar,  Apr.  26,  1787  —  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  22. 


ANARCHY   IN    ILLINOIS.  5  I 

gress,  and  appointed  Bartholomew  Tardiveau,  who  was 
to  go  to  Congress  within  a  month,  as  their  agent. 
Tardiveau  was  especially  fitted  for  this  task  by  his  inti- 
mate acquaintance  with  the  land  grants  of  the  region. 
Each  party  at  Vincennes  also  prepared  an  address  to  Gen. 
Harmar,  the  Americans  declaring  that  they  were  settled 
on  French  lands  and  feared  that  their  lands  would  be 
taken  from  them  without  payment  and  asking  aid  from 
Congress,  and  the  French  expressing  their  joy  at  being 
freed  from  their  former  bad  government.  Many  of  Clark's 
militia  had  made  tomahawk -rights,  and  this  added  to  the 
confusion  of  titles.1 

From  August  9  to  16,  Gen.  Harmar,  with  an  officer  and 
thirty  men,  some  Indian  hunters,  and  Tardiveau,  journeyed 
overland  from  Vincennes  to  Kaskaskia,  where  conditions 
were  to  be  investigated.  The  August  sun  poured  down 
its  rays  upon  the  parched  prairies  and  dwindling  streams. 
Water  was  bad  and  scarce,  but  buffalo,  deer,  bear,  and 
smaller  game  were  abundant. 

Harmar  found  life  in  the  settlements  he  visited  as  crude 
as  the  path  he  traveled.  Kaskaskia  was  a  French  village  of 
one  hundred  and  ninety -one  men,  old  and  young,  with  an 
accompaniment  of  women  and  children  of  various  mixtures 
of  white  and  red  blood.  Cahokia,  then  the  metropolis,  had 
two  hundred  and  thirty- nine  Frenchmen,  old  and  young, 
with  an  accompaniment  similarly  mixed.  Between  these 
settlements  was  Bellefontaine,  a  small  stockade,  inhabited 
altogether  by  Americans,  who  had  settled  without  authority. 
The  situation  was  a  beautiful  one;  the  land  was  fertile;  there 

1.  Harmar  to  Sec'y  of  War,  from  Vincennes,  Aug.  7,  17S7  —  "St.  Clair 
Papers,"  II.,  27-9;  Address  of  Am.  settlers  at  Vincennes  to  Harmar,  trans- 
mitted to  the  War  Office,  Aug.  7,  17S7  —  "Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Tapers," 
I.,  337-9;  Address  of  French  at  Vincennes  to  Harmar,  July  28,  17S7  — 
Ibid.,  I.,  331-3. 


52  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

was  no  taxation,  and  the  people  had  an  abundance  to  live  j 

upon.     They  were  much  alarmed  when  told  of  their  preca-  / 

rious  state  respecting  a  title  to  their  lands,  and  they  gave 
Tardiveau  a  petition  to  carry  to  Congress.  On  the  route 
to  Cahokia,  another  stockade,  Grand'  Ruisseau,  similarly 
inhabited  by  Americans,  was  passed.  There  were  about 
thirty  other  American  intruders  in  the  fertile  valleys  near 
the  Mississippi,  and  they,  too,  gave  Tardiveau  a  petition  to 
Congress. 

The  Kaskaskia,  Peoria,  Cahokia,  and  Mitcha  tribes  of 
Indians  numbered  only  about  forty  or  fifty  members,  of 
whom  but  ten  or  eleven  individuals  composed  the  Kas- 
kaskia tribe;  but  this  does  not  mean  that  danger  from 
the  Indians  was  not  great,  because  other  and  more  hostile 
tribes  came  in  great  numbers  to  hunt  in  the  Illinois  coun- 
try. The  significance  of  the  diminished  numbers  of  these 
particular  tribes  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  had  the  strongest 
claim  to  that  part  of  Illinois  which  would  be  first  needed 
for  settlement.  At  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  the  French 
were  advised  to  obey  their  magistrates  until  Congress  had 
a  government  ready  for  them,  and  Cahokia  was  advised  to 
put  its  militia  into  better  shape,  and  to  put  any  turbulent 
or  refractory  persons  under  guard  until  a  goverment  could 
be  instituted.1 

Having  finished  his  work  in  the  settlements  near  the 
Mississippi,  Harmar  returned  to  Vincennes,  where  he  held 
councils  with  the  Indians,  and  on  October  i,  set  out  on  his 
return  to  Fort  Harmar.  Although  without  authority  to 
give  permanent  redress,  he  had  persuaded  the  French  at 
Vincennes  to  relinquish  their  charter  and  to  throw  them- 
selves upon  the  generosity  of  Congress.  "As  it  would 
have   been   impolitic,  after   the  parade  we  had   made,  to 

I.  Harmar  to  Sec'y  of  War,  from  Fort  Harmar,  Nov.  24,  1787  —  "St. 
Clair  Papers,"  II.,  30-2. 


ANARCHY    IN    ILLINOS.  53 

entirely  abandon  the  country,"  he  left  Maj.  John  F.  Ilam- 
tramck,  with  ninety-five  men,  at  Vincennes.1  Harmar's 
visit  was  doubtless  of  some  value,  but  he  had  not  been 
gone  five  weeks  when  Hamtramck  wrote  to  him:  "Our 
civil  administration  has  been,  and  is,  in  a  great  confusion. 
Many  people  are  displeased  with  the  Magistrates;  how  it 
will  go  at  the  election,  which  is  to  be  the  2d  of  Dec,  I 
know  not.  But  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  Congress  will  soon 
establish  some  mode  of  government,  for  I  never  saw  so 
injudicious  administration.  Application  has  repeatedly 
been  made  to  me  for  redress.  I  have  avoided  to  give 
answer,  not  knowing  how  far  my  powers  extended.  In 
my  opinion,  the  Minister  of  War  should  have  that  matter 
determined,  and  sincerely  beg  you  would  push  it.  I  con- 
fess to  you,  that  I  have  been  very  much  at  a  loss  how  to 
act  on  many  occasions."2 

Not  earlier  than  the  24th  of  November,  Tardiveau  set  out 
for  Congress  with  his  petitions  from  the  Illinois  country. 
Harmar  was  much  pleased  to  have  so  able  a  messenger, 
and  spoke  of  him  as  sensible,  well-informed,  and  able  to 
give  a  minute  and  particular  description  of  the  western 
country,  particularly  the  Illinois.  He  had  been  preceded 
to  Congress  by  Joseph  Parker,  of  Kaskaskia.  Harmar 
seems  to  have  regarded  Tardiveau  as  a  sort  of  antidote  to 
Parker,  for  he  closes  his  recommendation  of  the  former  by 
saying:  "There  have  been  some  imposters  before  Con- 
gress, particularly  one  Parker,  a  whining,  canting  Meth- 
odist, a  kind  of  zvould-be  governor.  He  is  extremely 
unpopular  at  Kaskaskia,  and  despised  by  the  inhabitants."3 

1.  Harmar  to  the  Sec'y  of  War,  from  Fort  Harmar,  Nov.  24,  1787 — 
"St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  34. 

2.  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Yincennes,  Nov.  3,  1787  —  "Draper 
Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  I.,  352. 

3.  Harmar  to  Sec'y  of  War,  from  Fort  Harmar,  Nov.  24,  1787  —  "St. 
Clair  Papers,"  II.,  35. 


54  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

This  detracts  from  the  value  of  Parker's  representations, 
which  had  been  made  in  a  letter  to  St.  Clair,  the  President 
of  Congress.  After  explaining  that  when  he  left  Kas- 
kaskia,  on  June  5,  1787,  the  people  did  not  have  an 
intended  petition  ready,  Parker  complained  of  the  lack  of 
government  in  Illinois,  the  presence  of  British  traders,  the 
depopulation  of  the  country  by  the  inducements  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  the  high  rate  at  which  it  was  proposed  to 
sell  lands.  His  complaints  were  true,  although  he  may 
have  failed  to  give  them  in  their  proper  proportion.1 

On  July  13,  1787,  the  Ordinance  of  1787  had  been 
passed  by  Congress.  The  Illinois  country  was  at  that 
time  ready  for  war  against  the  Spanish,  who  persisted  in 
closing  the  Mississippi.  The  troops,  irregularly  levied  by 
George  Rogers  Clark  at  Vincennes,  had  seized  some 
Spanish  goods  on  the  theory  that  if  the  Spanish  would 
not  allow  the  United  States  to  navigate  the  lower  Missis- 
sippi, the  Spanish-  should  not  be  allowed  to  navigate  the 
upper  Mississippi.  John  Rice  Jones,  later  the  first  lawyer 
in  Illinois,  was  Clark's  commissary.2 

The  Ordinance  of  1787  was  the  only  oil  then  at  hand 
for  these  troubled  waters.  The  situation  in  Illinois  was  a 
complicated  one,  and  probably  the  numerical  weakness  of 
the  population  alone  saved  the  country  from  disastrous 
results.  The  few  Americans  in  Illinois  desired  govern- 
mental protection  from  the  Spanish,  the  Indians,  the 
British,  and  any  Americans  who  might  seek  to  jump  the 
claims  of  the  first  squatters;  the  few  French  desired 
protection  from  the  Spanish,  the  Americans,  the  British, 
and  soon  from  the  Indians;  the  numerous  Indians,  perma- 
nent or  transient,  desired  protection  from  the  Spanish,  the 
Americans,    and     in     rare     cases    from    an    Americanized 

1.  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i860,"  VI.,  170-3. 

2.  "Secret  Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  301-29. 


ANARCHY   IN    ILLINOS.  55 

Frenchman.      Americans,    French,    Spanish,    British,    and 
Indians  made  an  opportunity  for  many  combinations. 

For  the  French  inhabitants,  the  somewhat  paternal 
character  of  the  government  provided  for  by  the  Ordinance 
was  a  matter  of  no  concern.  The  great  rock  of  offense 
for  them  was  the  prohibition  of  slavery.  An  exodus  to 
the  Spanish  side  of  the  Mississippi  resulted  and  St.  Louis 
profited  by  what  the  older  villages  of  Illinois  lost.1  In 
addition  to  a  justifiable  feeling  of  uncertainty  as  to 
whether  they  would  be  allowed  to  retain  their  slaves,  the 
credulous  French  had  their  fears  wrought  upon  by  persons 
interested  in  the  sale  of  Spanish  lands.  These  persons 
took  pains  to  inculcate  the  belief  that  all  slaves  would  be 
released  upon  American  occupancy.  The  Spanish  officials 
were  also  active.  The  commandant  at  St.  Louis  wrote  to 
the  French  at  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  and  Vincennes,  respec- 
tively, inviting  them  to  settle  west  of  the  Mississippi  and 
offering  free  lands.2  Mr.  Tardiveau,  the  agent  for  the 
Illinois  settlers  to  Congress,  tried  to  induce  Congress  to 
repeal  the  anti-slavery  clause  of  the  Ordinance.  He  said 
that  it  threatened  to  be  the  ruin  of  Illinois.  Designing 
persons  had  told  the  French  that  the  moment  Gen.  St. 
Clair  arrived  all  their  slaves  would  be  free.  Failing  in  his 
efforts  to  secure  a  repeal,  he  wrote  to  Gen.  St.  Clair,  asking 
him  to  secure  from  Congress  a  resolution  giving  the  true 
intent  of  the  act.3  In  this  letter,  Tardiveau  advanced  the 
doctrine,  later  so  much  used,  that  the  evils  of  slavery 
would   be   mitigated  by  its  diffusion.4     The   first   panic  of 

1.  St.  Clair  to  the  President,  1790 — "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  175. 

2.  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Vincennes,  Oct.  13,  178S  —  "Draper  Coll., 
Harmar  Papers,"  I.,  479;  extract  in  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  105. 

3.  Tardiveau    to    St.    Clair,   from    Danville,   June    30,    1789  —  "St.  Clair 
Papers,"  II.,  11 7- 19. 

4.  Extract  from  above  letter. — Ibid.,  II.,  119-20,  note. 


56  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

the  French  only  gradually  subsided   and   the   question  of 
slavery  was  a  persistent  one. 

One  of  the  most  industrious  of  those  interested  in  the 
sale  of  Spanish  lands  was  George  Morgan,  of  New 
Jersey.1  In  1788,  he  tried  to  secure  land  in  Illinois  also. 
He  and  his  associates  petitioned  Congress  to  sell  them  a 
tract  of  land  on  the  Mississippi.  A  congressional  com- 
mittee found  upon  investigation  that  the  proposed  purchase 

1.  George  Morgan  was  much  engaged  in  large  land  purchases.  In  1763, 
some  Shawanese  and  other  Indians  carried  off  the  property  of  certain  whites 
to  the  value  of  ^"85,916  lay.,  8d.  The  offenders  being  tributary  to  the  Six 
Nations,  the  latter  granted  to  King  George  III.,  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
sufferers,  on  November  3,  1768,  at  Fort  Stanwix,  the  tract  of  some  two  mil- 
lion five  hundred  thousand  acres,  later  known  as  the  claim  of  the  Indiana 
Company.  The  land  lay  southeast  of  the  Ohio,  and  was  claimed  in  part  by 
both  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.  For  map  see  "States  of  America,"  by  J. 
Russell,  London,  E.  DillyandG.  G.  and  J.  Robinson,  1799;  Hutchins,  "Topo- 
graphical Desc.  of  Va.,"etc,  French  ed.,  Paris,  17S1  ;  Winsor,  "  Westward 
Movement,"  17.  Morgan,  who  was  a  large  shareholder  in  the  company,  was 
for  years  its  agent.  The  claim  was  finally  denied.  Morgan  was  also  the 
founder  of  New  Madrid,  in  what  is  now  Missouri,  but  he  was  unfortunate  in 
assuming  powers  denied  by  the  Spanish  government.  His  experience  in 
Illinois  was  likewise  a  failure  — "  Cal.  of  Va.  State  Papers"  I.,  273,  297,  320; 
VI.,  1-36  (a  history  of  the  Indiana  purchase),  261,  679,  301;  "Jour,  of 
Cong.,"  III.,  359,  373;  IV.,  23;  "  Rept.  on  Canadian  Archives,"  iSSS,  p. 
939;  "Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.,"  LIIL,  78;  Gayerre,  "Hist,  of  La.," 
index  under  Morgan  refers  to  passages  giving  several  quotations  from  sources  ; 
Kate  Mason  Rowland,  "George  Mason,"  I.,  230,  324,-8,  289,  308,  333, 
341-4;  II.,  21,  26,  239,  244,  262,  341-5,  406,  440-1.  George  Mason  was 
manager  for  the  commonwealth  when,  in  1791,  the  final  effort  was  made  by 
the  Indiana  Company  to  overthrow  the  Virginia  settlement  of  its  claim. 
Some  original  sources  of  importance  are  given  in  this  work  —  "Plain  Facts: 
being  an  Examination  into  the  Rights  of  the  Indian  Nations  of  America,  to 
their  respective  Countries,  and  a  Vindication  of  the  Grant,  from  the  Six 
United  Nations  of  Indians,  to  the  Proprietors  of  Indiana,  against  the  decision 
of  Virginia,  together  with  authentic  documents,  proving  that  the  territory, 
westward  of  the  Alleghany  Mountain,  never  belonged  to  Virginia,  etc.,  Phila- 
delphia :  M.DCC.LXXXI."  The  work  gives  a  resume  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  company  to  1779,  164  pp.  "View  of  the  Title  to  Indiana, 
a  tract  of  country  on  the  River  Ohio,"  24  pp.,  printed  about  1775. 


ANARCHY*    IN    ILLINOIS.  57 

comprised  all  of  the  French  settlements  in  Illinois.1 
Thereupon  was  passed  the  Act  of  June  20,  1788.  Accord- 
ing to  its  provisions,  the  French  inhabitants  of  Illinois 
were  to  be  confirmed  in  their  possessions  and  each  family 
which  was  living  in  the  district  before  the  year  1783  was 
to  be  given  a  bounty  of  four  hundred  acres.  These  bounty- 
lands  were  to  be  laid  off  in  three  parallelograms,  at  Kas- 
kaskia,  Prairie  du  Rocher,  and  Cahokia,  respectively. 
They  were  to  be  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  ridge  of 
rocks — a  natural  formation  trending  from  north  to  south, 
a  short  distance  to  the  east  of  the  French  settlements. 
Morgan  was  to  be  sold  a  large  described  tract  for  not  less 
than  sixty-six  and  two-thirds  cents  per  acre.  Indian 
titles  were  to  be  extinguished  if  necessary.2 

The  Act  of  June  20,  1788,  is  an  important  landmark  in 
the  settlement  of  Illinois.  The  grant  of  bounty-lands 
was  made  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  French  settlers  a 
means  of  support  when  the  fur- trade  and  hunting  should 
have  become  unprofitable  from  the  advance  of  American 
settlement.  This  was  a  clear  acknowledgment  that  the 
Indians  were  right  in  believing,  as  they  did,  that  the 
American  settlement  would  be  fatal  to  Indian  hunting- 
grounds.  The  Indians  were  soon  bitterly  hostile.  Then, 
too,  the  claims  of  the  settlers  to  land,  founded  upon 
French,  British,  or  Virginia  grants,  were  to  be  investigated. 
This  investigation  dragged  on  year  after  year,  even  for 
decades,  and  as  it  was  the  policy  of  the  United  States 
not  to  sell  public  land  in  Illinois  until  these  claims  were 

1.  "Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  341-2,  823-5. 

2.  "Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  823  -5.  The  location  of  the  ridge  of  rocks  is 
clearly  shown  in  Hutchins'  "Topographical  Desc  of  Va.,"  1778,  on  a  map 
opposite  p.  41.  French  edition  of  1781,  facing  p.  16;  Winsor,  "Nar.  and 
Crit.  Hist,  of  Am.,"  VI.,  700;  Collot,  "Atlas  of  America, "  1826. 

6 


58  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

settled,  the  country  became  a  great  squatters'1  camp. 
The  length  of  the  investigation  was  doubtless  due  in  part 
to  the  utter  carelessness  of  the  French  in  giving  and  in 
keeping  their  evidences  of  title. 

By  a  congressional  resolution  of  August  28,  1788,  it  was 
provided  that  the  lands  donated  to  Illinois  settlers  should 
be  located  east,  instead  of  west,  of  the  ridge  of  rocks.  As 
this  would  throw  the  land  too  far  from  the  settlements  to 
be  available,  petitions  followed  for  the  restoration  of  the 
provisions  of  June  20,  and  in  1791  the  original  location 
was  decreed.  By  a  resolution  of  August  29,  1788,  the 
governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory  was  ordered  to  carry 
out  the  provisions  of  the  acts  of  June  20  and  August  28, 
1788,  respectively.2 

The  beginning  of  operations,  in  accordance  with  the  acts 
just  cited,  was  delayed  by  the  fact  that  the  governor  and 
judges,  appointed  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  and  who 
alone  could  institute  government  under  it,  did  not  reach 
the  Illinois  country  until  1790.  In  the  meantime,  anarchy 
continued.  Contemporary  accounts  give  a  good  idea  of  the 
attempts  at  government  during  the  time,  and  the  fact  of 
their  great  interest,  combined  with  the  fact  that  most  of 
them  are  yet  unpublished,  seems  to  warrant  treatment  of 
the  subject  at  some  length. 

The  court  at  Kaskaskia  met  more  than  a  score  of  times 
during  1787  and  1788.  Its  record  consists  in  large  part  of 
mere  meetings  and  adjournments.  All  members  of  the 
court  were  French,  while  litigants  and  the  single  jury 
recorded  were  Americans.  Jurors  from  Bellefontaine 
received  forty-five  livres  each,  and  those  from  Prairie  du 

1.  Throughout  the  period  covered  by  this  work,  the  term  squatter  denoted 
one  who  illegally  settled  on  public  land,  without  a  title.  Later  laws  per- 
mitted settling  before  securing  a  title,  but  in  the  early  period,  no  squatting 
was  legal. 

2.  "Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  857-9. 


ANARCHY    IN    ILLINOIS. 


59 


Rocher,  twenty- five  livres  each.  This  court  seems  to  have 
been  utterly  worthless.1  At  Vincennes,  matters  were  at 
least  as  bad.  "It  was  the  most  unjust  court  that  could 
have  been  invented.  If  anybody  called  for  a  court,  the 
president  had  20  livers  in  peltry;  14  magistrates,  each  10 
livers;  for  a  room,  10  livers;  other  small  expenses,  10 
livers;  total  in  peltry ,'180  livers  —  which  is  360  in  money.  So 
that  a  man  who  had  twenty  or  thirty  dollars  due,  was  obliged 
to  pay,  if  he  wanted  a  court,  180  livers  in  peltry:  This 
court  also  never  granted  an  execution,  but  only  took  care 
to  have  the  fees  of  the  court  paid.  The  government  of 
this  country  has  been  in  the  Le  Gras  and  Gamelin  family 
for  a  long  time,  to  the  great  dissatisfaction  of  the  people, 
who  presented  me  a  Petition  some  days  ago,  wherein  they 
complained  of  the  injustice  of  their  court  —  in  consequence 
of  which,  I  have  dissolved  the  old  court,  ordered  new 
magistrates  to  be  elected,  and  established  new  regulations 
for  them  to  go  by."2  Upon  the  dissolution  of  the  court, 
Maj.  Hamtramck  issued  the  following: 

"REGULATIONS    FOR    THE   COURT    OF    POST    VINCENNES. 

"In  consequence  of  a  Petition  presented  to  me  by  the 

people  of  Post  Vincennes,  wherein  they  complain  of  the 

1.  "John  Todd's  Record -Book,"  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV., 
308-14. 

2.  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Vincennes,  April  13,  17S8 — "Draper 
Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  I.,  386-7.  At  the  time  fees  as  above  were  being 
charged,  prices  current  iu  Vincennes  were  : 


Whisky,  per  gal.$  8.00 

Butter,  per  lb. . .  1.00 

Eggs,  per  doz.  . .  1.00 
Loaf    sugar,     per 

lb 1. 00 

Brown  sugar,  per  lb  .60 

Coffee,  per  lb. . . .  1.45 
Beef  was  probably  buffalo  beef,  as  that  was  then  the  common  meat  for 
garrisons  and  settlers  in  the  West. 


Corn,  per  bu. . .  .$  2.00 
Flour,  per  cwt. . .       7.00 

Pork,  per  lb 30 

Beef,  per  lb.  . . .  .15 

Bordeaux    wine, 

per  bottle 2.00 

Spirits,  per  gal.  .     12.00 


A  dunghill  fowl.$  1.00 
Potatoes,  per  bu.  2.00 
Onions,  per  bu.  . 
Cabbage,  per  head 
Turnips,  per  bu.  . 

See  Ibid.,  388-9. 


5.00 

■15 
1. 00 


60  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

k 

great  expence  to  which  each  individual  is  exposed  in  the 
recovery  of  his  property  by  the  present  court,  and  as  they 
express  a  wish  to  have  another  mode  established  for  the 
administration  of  justice  —  I  do,  therefore,  by^hese  pres- 
ents, dissolve  the  said  court,  and  direct  that  five  magistrates 
be  elected  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people  who,  when  chosen, 
will  meet  and  settle  their  seniority. 

"One  magistrate  will  have  power  to  try  causes,  not 
exceeding  fifty  livers  in  peltry.  Two  magistrates  will 
determine  all  causes  not  exceeding  one  hundred  livers  in 
peltry,  —  from  their  decision  any  person  aggrieved  may 
(on  paying  the  cost  of  the  suit)  appeal  to  the  District 
Court,  which  will  consist  of  three  magistrates;  the  senior 
one  will  preside.  They  will  meet  the  third  Tuesday  in  every 
month  and  set  two  days,  unless  the  business  before  them 
be  completed  within  that  time.  All  causes  in  this  court 
shall  be  determined  by  a  jury  of  twelve  inhabitants.  Any 
person  summoned  by  the  sheriff  as  a  juryman  who  refuses 
or  neglects  to  attend,  shall  be  fined  the  price  of  a  day's 
labour.  In  case  of  indisposition,  he  will,  previous  to  the 
sitting  of  the  court,  inform  the  clerk,  Mr.  Antoine  Gamelinr 
who  will  order  such  vacancies  to  be  filled. 

"The  fees  of  the  court  shall  be  as  follows:  A  magistrate, 
for  every  cause  of  fifty  livers  or  upwards  in  peltry,  shall 
receive  one  pistole  in  peltry,  and  in  proportion  for  a  lesser 
sum.  The  sheriff  for  serving  a  writ  or  a  warrant  shall 
receive  three  livers  in  peltry;  for  levying  an  execution,  5 
per  cent,  including  the  fees  of  the  clerk  of  the  court. 

"The  clerk  for  issuing  a  writ  shall  receive  three  livers  in 
peltry,  and  all  other  fees  as  heretofore.  The  jury  being 
an  office  which  will  be  reciprocal,  are  not  to  receive  pay. 
All  expenses  of  the  court  are  to  be  paid  by  the  person  that 
is  cast.  This  last  part  may  appear  to  you  to  be  an  extraor 
dinary  charge — but   my  reason   for  mentioning  it  is,  that 


ANARCHY    IN    ILLINOIS.  6l 

formerly  the  court  made  the  one  who  was  most  able  pay 
the  fees  of  the  court,  whether  he  lost  or  no. 

"The  magistrates,  before  they  enter  into  the  execution 
of  their  office,  will  take  the  following  oath  before  the  com- 
mandant: I,  A.,  do  swear  that  I  will  administer  justice 
impartially,  and  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  under- 
standing, so  help  me  God. 

"Given  under  my  hand  this  5th  day  of  April,  1788. 
(Signed)     J.  F.  HAMTRAMCK, 

Majr.  Comd'g."1 

A  little  later,  Hamtramck  wrote:  "Our  new  government 
has  taken  place;  five  magistrates  have  been  elected  by  the 
suffrage  of  the  people,  but  not  one  of  the  Ottoman  families 
remains  in.  One  Mr.  Miliet,  Mr.  Henry,  Mr.  Bagargon, 
Capt.  Johnson,  and  Capt.  Dalton,  have  been  elected.  You 
will  be  surprised  to  see  Dalton  in  office;  but  I  found  that 
he  had  too  many  friends  to  refuse  him.  I  keep  a  watch- 
side  eye  over  him,  and  find  that  he  conducts  himself  with 
great  propriety."2 

The  relief  afforded  by  the  new  court  was  not  complete, 
for  soon  came  the  report:  "The  people  are  very  impatient 
to  see  Gen.  St.  Clair  or  some  of  the  judges;  in  fact,  they 
are  very  much  wanted."3  The  term  of  the  members  of 
the  court  expired  in  April,  1789,  and  no  new  members 
were  elected,  because  the  early  arrival  of  Gen.  St.  Clair 
was  expected.4  An  interregnum  occurred,  and  in  Novem- 
ber, 1789,  Hamtramck  wrote  to  Harmar:  "It  is  high  time 

1.  "Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  I.,  389-92. 

2.  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Yinceanes,  May  21,  17S8  —  "Draper 
Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  I.,  396.  "Mr.  Henry,  of  this  place,  who  is  very 
much  connected  with  the  Indians,  particularly  his  wife,"  implies  that  Henry's 
wife  was -an  Indian  —  Ibid.,  3-4. 

3.  Same  to  same,  Aug.  31,  178S  —  Ibid.,    I.,  450. 

4.  Same  to  same,  July  29,  17S9  —  Ibid.,  II.,  70-1. 


62  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

that  government  should  take  place  in  this  country,  and  if 
it  should  happen  that  the  Governor  was  not  to  come,  nor 
any  of  the  Judges,  I  would  beg  (for  the  sake  of  the  people) 
that  his  Excellency  would  give  me  certain  powers  to  create 
magistrates,  a  Sheriff  and  other  officers,  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  Courts  of  Justice — for,  at  present,  there  are 
none,  owing  to  the  daily  expectation  of  the  arrival  of  the 
Governor.  Those  thatjiad  been  appointed  by  the  people 
last  year,  their  authority  has  been  refused  in  the  courts  of 
Kentucky,  they  declaring  that  by  the  resolve  of  Congress, 
neither  the  people  of ,  Post  Vincennes,  or  the  commanding 
officer,  had  a  right  to  appoint  magistrates;  that  the  power 
was  vested  in  the  Governor  only,  and  that  it  was  an  usurped 
authority.  You  see,  Sir,  how  much  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
people  their  present  situation  is,  and  how  necessary  it  is 
that  some  steps  should  be  taken  to  relieve  them. 

"The  powers  of  the  magistrates  may  be  circumscribed 
as  his  Excellency  may  think  proper,  but  the  necessity  of 
having  such  characters  will  appear  when  I  assure  you  that 
at  present  no  person  here,  can  administer  an  oath  whi^ch 
will  be  considered  legal  in  the  courts  of  Kentucky  —  and 
for  the  reasons  above  mentioned."1 

At  last,  on  June  19,  1790,  the  judges  for  the  Northwest 
Territory  arrived  at  Vincennes.2 

The  situation  at  Kaskaskia  was  even  worse  than  that  at 
Vincennes,  because  Vincennes  had  a  garrison.  To  under- 
stand the  complaints  of  the  time,  it  is  necessary  to  notice 
the  relations  with  Spain.  On  the  first  day  of  1788, 
Hamtramck  wrote:  "The  Spanish  commanding  officers  of 
the  different  posts  on  the  Mississippi  are  encouraging 
settlers    by  giving  them   lands   gratis.     A  village  by  the 

1.  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Vincennes,  Nov.  11,  17S9  —  "Draper 
Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  130-2. 

2.  Same  to  same,  June  24,  1790 — Ibid.,  II.,  254. 


ANARCHY    IN    ILLINOIS.  63 

name  of  Zewapetas,  which  is  about  thirty  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio,  and  which  was  begun  last  summer, 
consists  now  of  thirty  or  fifty  families."1  In  the  following 
October,  Morgan  made  flattering  offers  to  persons  who 
would  settle  at  New  Madrid.2  At  the  same  time,  the 
Mississippi  was  closed  to  Americans.  Joseph  St.  Marie,  of 
Vincennes,  sent  his  clerk  with  a  load  of  peltry  to  be  traded 
to  the  Indians  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  His  goods 
were  seized  and  confiscated  by  the  Spanish  commander  at 
the  Arkansas  Post.  The  commander  said  that  his  orders 
were  to  seize  all  goods  of  Americans,  found  in  the  Missis- 
sippi below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  Upon  appeal  to  Gov. 
Miro,  of  Louisiana,  the  governor  said  that  the  court  of 
Spain  had  given  orders  to  send  offending  traders  prisoners 
to  the  mines  of  Brazil.3 

The  combination  of  inducements  to  such  as  would 
become  Spanish  subjects  and  of  severity  to  such  as  would 
not  do  so,  secured  Spain  some  settlers.  Hamtramck 
said:  "I  am  fearful  that  the  Governor  will  not  find  many 
people  in  the  Illinois,  as  they  are  daily  going  on  the 
Spanish  side.  I  believe  that  all  our  Americans  of  Post 
Vincennes  will  go  to  Morgan  —  a  number  of  them  are 
already  gone  to  see  him.  I  am  told  that  Mr.  Morgan  has 
taken  unwarrantable  measures  to  invite  the  people  of 
Illinois  to  come  to  him,  saying  that  the  Governor  never 
would  come  in  that  country,  and  that  their  negroes  were 
all  free  the  moment  the  government  should  be  established 
— for  which»all  the  remaining  good  inhabitants  propose  to 
go  to  him.     I   can   not   give   you   this  for  certain;   I  will 

1.  Same  to ,  Jan.  1,  17SS  —  Ibid.,  I.,  371. 

2.  Morgan's  proclamation,  Oct.  3,  1788  —  //'/^.,  "Clark  MSS.,"  LIIL,  7S. 
incomplete. 

3.  From  Vincennes,  Aug.  26,  17SS  —  "Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  I., 
455"  61. 


64  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

know  better  in  a  short  time,  and  inform  you."1  "I  have 
the  honor  to  enclose  you  Mr.  Morgan's  letter  at  his  request, 
and  one  for  you.  You  will  see  in  Mr.  Morgan's  that  a 
post  will  be  established  opposite  the  Ohio;  and  if  what 
Mr.  Morgan  says  is  true  (which  I  doubt  not),  respecting 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Illinois,  the  Governor  will  have  no 
occasion  to  go  there.  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  inform 
me  if  Congress  have  changed  their  resolution  respecting 
the  freedom  of  the  negroes  of  this  country;  and  if  they 
are  free  from  the  day  of  the  resolve,  or  if  from  the  day  it  is 
published  in  a  district."2  A  few  weeks  later,  Harmar  wrote 
to  St.  Clair:  "The  emigration  continues,  if  possible,  more 
rapid  than  ever;  within  these  twenty  days,  not  less  than 
one  hundred  souls  have  passed  [Fort  Harmar,  at  Falls  of 
Ohio]  daily:  the  people  are  all  taken  up  with  Col. 
Morgan's  New  Madrid.  .  .  .  The  generality  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Kaskaskias,  and  a  number  of  those  at  Post 
Vincennes,  I  am  informed,  have  quit  those  villages,  and  gone 
over  to  the  Spanish  side.  The  arrival  of  your  Excellency 
amongst  them,  I  believe  is  anxiously  expected."3 

The  Indians  were'very  hostile,  and  it  is  noteworthy  that 
by  the  middle  of  1789,  the  comparative  immunity  of  the 
French  from  attack  had  ceased.  Only  negroes  were  safe, 
and  they,  probably,  because  they  sold  well.4  Civil  govern- 
ment was  at  low  ebb  in  the  Kaskaskia  region.  By 
January,    1789,   the    court    at    Kaskaskia    had    dissolved.5 

1.  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Vincennes,  Mar.  28,  1789  —  Ibid.,  II., 
17-18. 

2.  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Vincennes,  Apr.  II,  17S9  —  "Draper 
Coll.,   Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  27-28. 

3.  Harmar  to  St.  Clair,  from  Fort  Harmar,  May  8,  1789  —  Ibid.,  II.,  51. 
Harmar  to  Knox,  same  date  and  of  similar  tenor — Ibid,,  II.,  53. 

4.  Hamtramck  to  Wyllys,  from  Vincennes,  May  27,   1789  —  Ibid.,  II.,  39. 

5.  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Fort  Knox,  Vincennes,  Jan.  19,  1789  — 
Ibid.,  II.,  1. 


ANARCHY    IN    ILLINOIS.  65 

The  depopulation  of  Illinois  led  Hamtramck  to  write  to 
Bartholomew  Tardiveau,  at  the  Falls  of  Ohio,  asking 
whether  it  were  true  that  the  slaves  of  the  French  were  to 
be  free.  Tardiveau  responded  that  it  was  not  true,  and 
that  he  had  written  from  New  York,  the  preceding 
December,  to  Hamtramck  and  to  Illinois  concerning  the 
matter,  but  that  his  letters  had  been  intercepted.  The 
true  meaning  of  the  resolve  of  Congress  was  published  at 
Vincennes  upon  the  receipt  of  Tardiveau's  letter  and  was 
to  be  published  in  Illinois  at  the  first  opportunity.  The 
narration  of  these  facts  was  closed  by  the  statement  that 
if  the  governor  or  the  judges  did  not  come  soon,  most  of 
the  people  would  go  to  the  Spanish  side,  "for  they  begin  to 
think  there  are  no  such  men  as  a  Governor  or  Judges."1 

In  September,  1789,  Hamtramck  received  the  following 
petition  from  Kaskaskia: 

"To  John  Francis  Flamtramck,  Esqr.,  Major  of  the  1st 
U.  S.  Regt  and  commandant  at  Post  Vincennes-,  &c.  &c. 

"The  inhabitants  of  Kaskaskias,  in  the  Illinois,  beg 
leave  to  address  you,  as  the  next  commanding  officer  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States,  to  lay  before  you  the 
deplorable  situation  we  are  reduced  to,  and  the  absolute 
necessity  of  our  being  speedily  succoured  to  prevent  as 
well  our  total  ruin,  as  that  of  the. place. 

"The  Indians  are  greatly  more  numerous  than  the  white 
people,  and  are  rather  hostilely  inclined;  the  name  of  an 
American  among  them  is  a  disgrace,  because  we  have  no 
superior.  Our  horses,  horned  cattle,  and  corn  are  stolen 
and  destroyed  without  the  power  of  making  any  effectual 
resistance.  Our  houses  are  in  ruin  and  decay;  our  lands 
are  uncultivated;  debtors  absconded  and  absconding;  our 
little    commerce   destroyed.     We    are    apprehensive   of  a 

1.  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Vincennes,  Aug.  14,  1798—  "Draper 
Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  II, ,  90-1. 


66  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

dearth  of  corn,  and  our  best  prospects  are  misery  and 
distress,  or  what  is  more  than  probable  an  untimely  death 
by  the  hands  of  Savages. 

"We  are  well  convinced  that  all  these  misfortunes  have 
befallen  us  for  want  of  some  superior,  or  commanding 
authority;  for  ever  since  the  cession  of  this  Territory  to 
Congress,  we  have  been  neglected  as  an  abandoned  people, 
to  encounter  all  the  difficulties  that  are  always  attendant 
upon  anarchy  and  confusion;  neither  did  we  know  from 
authority  until  latterly,  to  what  power  we  were  subject. 
The  greater  part  of  our  citizens  have  left  the  country  on 
this  account  to  reside  in  the  Spanish  dominions;  others 
are  now  following,  and  we  are  fearful,  nay,  certain,  that 
without  your  assistance,  the  small  remainder  will  be 
obliged  to  follow  their  example. 

"Thus  situated,  our  last  resource  is  to  you,  Sir,  hoping 
and  praying  that  you  will  so  far  use  your  authority  to  save 
an  almost  deserted  country  from  destruction,  and  to  order 
or  procure  the  small  number  of  twenty  men  with  an 
officer,  to  be  stationed  among  us  for  our  defence;  and  that 
you  will  make  order  for  the  establishment  of  a  civil  court 
to  take  place  immediately  and  to  continue  in  force  until 
the  pleasure  of  his  Excellency  the  Governor  shall  be 
known,  and  to  whom  we  beg  you  would  communicate  our 
distress. 

"We  beg  your  answer  by  the  return  of  the  bearer, 
addressed  to  the  Revd  Mr.  Le  Dru,  our  Priest,  who  signs 
this  in  the  name  and  at  the  request,  of  the  inhabitants. 

"Dated  at  Kaskaskia  the  fourteenth  day  of  September, 
1789. 

"Ledru,  cure  Des  Kaskaskias  pour  tous  les  habitans 
Francais  de  l'endroit  et  outres  voisins  de  la  partie  Amer- 
icaine.  "Jno.  EDGAR."1 

1.  Inclosed  in  Ilamtramck  to  Harmar,  from  Vincennes,  Nov.  2,  17S9 — 
"Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  124-7. 


ANARCHY   IN   ILLINOIS.  6j 

John  Edgar  offered  to  furnish  provisions  for  the  twenty- 
soldiers  asked  for  in  the  petition,  and  to  take  bills  on 
Congress  in  payment.1 

Hamtramck  responded  to  the  petition  by  saying  that 
sickness  prevailed  among  the  troops  at  Vincennes  to  such 
an  extent  that  twenty  men  could  not  be  sent  thence  to 
Kaskaskia,  but  that  the  request  would  be  sent  to  head- 
quarters. As  to  the  civil  department,  the  people  were 
advised  to  elect  two  or  three  magistrates  in  every  village. 
These  should  prevent  debtors  from  leaving,  and  should 
levy  on  the  goods  of  such  debtors  as  had  already  gone  to 
the  Spanish  side.  "Let  your  magistrates  be  respectable 
men  by  their  moral  character,  as  well  as  in  point  of  prop- 
erty; let  them  attend  with  vigilance  to  all  disputes  that 
may  arise  amongst  you,  and  in  a  particular  manner  to  the 
Indian  affairs."2  This  reply  reached  Edgar  on  the  night 
of  October  27,1  1789.  The  next  day,  Edgar  wrote  to 
Hamtramck  saying  that  it  was  probable  that  the  recom- 
mendations in  regard  to  establishing  a  civil  government 
could  not  be  carried  out  without  a  military  force.  The 
French  were  easily  governed  by  a  superior,  but  they  knew 
nothing  of  government  by  an  equal.  Indians  were  con- 
stantly incited  by  the  Spanish.  They  stole  horses  and 
escaped  to  the  Spanish  side.  Edgar  enclosed  correspond- 
ence and  depositions  showing  that  on  the  night  of  the 
eighth  of  October,  John  Dodge  and  Michael  Antanya, 
with  a  party  of  whites  and  Indians,  came  from  the  Spanish 
side  to  Kaskaskia,  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  carry 
off  some  of  Edgar's  slaves,  and  threatened  to  burn  the 
village.     He  adds  "[In]  the  spring  it  is  impossible  I  can 

1.  Offer  dated  Oct.  3,  1789.  Inclosed  in  Hamtramck  to  Harmar,  Nov. 
2,  1789  —  "Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  127-8. 

2.  Hamtramck's  reply  of  Oct.  14,  1789,  to  petition  of  Sept.  14,  preceding, 
inclosed  as  above — Ibid.,  II.,  128-30 ;  "Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"' 
II.,  128-130. 


68  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

stand  my  ground,  surrounded  as  we  are  by  savage  enemies. 
I  have  waited  five  years  in  hopes  of  a  government;  I  shall 
still  wait  until  March,  as  I  may  be  able  to  withstand  them 
in  the  winter  season,  but  if  no  succour  nor  government 
should  then  arrive,  I  shall  be  compelled  to  abandon  the 
country,  and  I  shall  go  to  live  at  St.  Louis.  Inclination, 
interest  and  love  for  the  country  prompt  me  to  reside  here, 
but  when  in  so  doing  it  is  ten  to  one  but  both  my  life  and 
property  will  fall  a  sacrifice,  you  nor  any  impartial  mind 
can  blame  me  for  the  part  I  shall  take."1 

One  day  later,  John  Rice  Jones  wrote  from  Kaskaskia. 
The  answer  to  the  petition  sent  by  Ducoigne  and  addressed 
to  Ledru  and  Edgar,  had  been  opened  by  the  latter  in  the 
absence  and  by  the  consent  of  the  former.  Ledru  had 
gone  to  be  priest  at  St.  Louis.  At  first  he  had  refused  the 
offer  of  the  position,  but  when  he  received  his  tithes  at 
Kaskaskia,  he  found  that  they  would  not  support  him,  so 
he  was  compelled  to  move.  He  met  no  better  treatment 
than  de  la  Valiniere  and  Gibault  before  him,  and  no  priest 
was  likely  to  fare  any  better  until  a  government  was 
established.  St.  Pierre,  priest  at  Cahokia,  had  gone  to  be 
priest  at  Ste.  Genevieve,  and  it  was  said  that  Gibault  was 
to  be  priest  at  L'Anse  a  la  Graisse  (New  Madrid). 
Morgan  had  been  coolly  received  at  New  Orleans,  and  his 
boasted  settlement  at  New  Madrid  was  almost  broken  up. 
The  attempted  seizure  of  Edgar's  negroes  could  not  be 
punished,  because  there  was  no  one  with  authority  to 
remonstrate  with  the  Spanish,  and  private  remonstrances 
were  unheeded.  The  Spanish  were  making  every  effort  to 
depopulate  Illinois.  They  well  knew  that  the  people 
would  follow  their  priests.  Flattering  offers  had  been 
made  to   Edgar  by  the  Spanish,  among  them  being  free 

I.  Edgar  to  Hamtramck,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  28,  1789  —  "Draper  Coll., 
Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  132-6. 


ANARCHY    IN    ILLINOIS.  69 

lands,  no  taxes,  and  free  permission  to  work  at  the  lead 
mines  and  salt  springs.  He  had  refused  all  offers,  but  if 
government  was  not  established  by  the  next  March  he 
would  go  to  St.  Louis,  and  if  he  went,  Kaskaskia  would 
be  practically  at  an  end.  Twenty- four  British  trading- 
boats  from  Michilimackinac  were  on  the  Mississippi  on 
the  American  side  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri. 
Their  purpose  was  to  attract  Indian  trade.1 

Gov.  St.  Clair  arrived  at  Kaskaskia  on  March  5,  1790.2 
With  his  coming  anarchy  technically  ceased,  but  naturally 
the  institution  of  an  orderly  government  was  a  gradual 
process.  In  August,  Tardiveau  wrote  to  Hamtramck 
from  Kaskaskia,  saying  that  he  hoped  that  Maj.  Wyllys 
had  given  Hamtramck  such  a  specimen  of  the  difficulty 
of  establishing  a  regular  government  and  organizing  the 
militia  in  Illinois  as  would  induce  the  sending  of  a  few 
regular  troops  from  Vincennes.  Even  ten  men  would  be 
a  help.  The  Indians  daily  stole  horses,  and  Tardiveau 
tried  to  raise  a  force  to  go  and  punish  the  offenders,  but 
he  was  effectually  opposed  by  a  lawless  band  of  ring- 
leaders. A  militia  law  and  the  Illinois  civil  power  were 
useless  to  remedy  the  matter.  There  were  plenty  of  pro- 
visions in  Illinois  to  supply  any  soldiers  that  might  be 
sent.3  Tardiveau  was  then  lieutenant- colonel  of  the  first 
regiment  of  militia,  and  also  judge  of  probate,  having 
been  appointed  by  the  governor.4  Harmar  replied  that  it 
was  utterly  impracticable  to  comply  with  Tardiveau's 
request  for  soldiers.5 

1.  Jones  to  Hamtramck,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  29,  1789  —  "Draper  Coll., 
Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  136-41. 

2.  Ibid,,  II.,  182;  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  164. 

3.  Tardiveau  to  Hamtramck,  from  Kaskaskia,  Aug.  1,  1790 — "Draper 
Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  302. 

4.  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  165. 

5.  Harmar  to  Hamtramck,  Sept.  3,  1790 — "Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Papers," 
II.,  332. 


yo  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

On  June  20,  1788,  a  congressional  committee  reported 
that  there  were  about  eighty  families  at  Kaskaskia,  twelve 
at  Prairie  du  Rocher,  four  or  five  at  Fort  Chartres  and  St. 
Philips,  and  about  fifty  at  Cahokia,  making  one  hundred 
and  forty- six  or  one  hundred  and  forty -seven  families 
in  these  villages.1  In  \j66-y,  the  same  villages,  with 
Vincennes,  were  supposed  to  have  about  two  thousand 
inhabitants2;  and  about  five  years  later,  1772,  there  were 
some  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants  in  these  villages,  not 
including  Vincennes.3 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  population  of  the  Illinois 
country  decreased  from  1765  to  1790.  During  these  years, 
British  and  Americans  had  attempted  to  impose  upon  the 
French  settlers  a  form  of  government  for  which  they  had 
neither  desire  nor  aptitude.  The  attempt  to  immediately 
transform  a  subject  people  was  a  signal  failure,  but  neither 
the  attempt  nor  the  failure  was  unique. 

1.  "Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  823, 

2.  Pittman,  "European  Settlements  on  the  Miss.,"  55. 

3.  Hutchins,  "Topographical  Desc.  of  Va. "  36-8. 


CHAPTER    III. 

I. 

The  Land  and  Indian  Questions, 

179O    TO    1809 

A  PROCLAMATION  issued  by  Estevan  Miro,  Governor 
-^*-  and  Intendant  of  the  Provinces  of  Louisiana  and  Flor- 
ida in  1789,  offered  to  immigrants  a  liberal  donation  of  land, 
graduated  according  to  the  number  of  laborers  in  the 
family;  freedom  of  religion  and  from  payment  of  tithes, 
although  no  public  worship  except  Catholic  would  be 
allowed;  freedom  from  taxation;  and  a  free  market  at 
New  Orleans  for  produce  or  manufactures.  All  settlers 
must  swear  allegiance  to  Spain.1  This  proclamation  came 
at  a  time  when  the  West  was  divided  in  opinion  as  to 
whether  to  make  war  upon  Spain  for  her  closure  of  the 
Mississippi  or  to  secede  from  the  United  States  and 
become  a  part  of  Spain.2  It  tended  to  continue  the  emi- 
gration from  the  Illinois  country  to  Spanish  territory,  for 
public  land  was  not  yet  for  sale  in  Illinois. 

To  the  professional  rover,  the  inability  to  secure  a  title 
to  land  was  the  cause  of  small  concern,  but  the  more 
substantial  and  desirable  the  settler,  the  more  concerned 
was  he  about  the  matter.  Settlement  and  improvements 
were  retarded.  Before  the  affairs  of  the  Ohio  Company 
had  progressed  far  enough  to  permit  sales  of  land  to 
settlers,  the  little  company  at  Marietta  saw,  with  deep 
chagrin,  thousands  of  settlers  float  by  on  their  way  to 
Kentucky,  where  land  could  be  bought.3  Squatters  in 
Illinois  were   constantly  expecting  that  the   public  lands 

1.  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  122-3. 

2.  "Secret  Jour,  of  Cong.,"  IV.,  301-29. 

3.  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  I.,  150. 

71 


72  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

would  soon  be  offered  for  sale.  The  natural  result  was 
petitions  for  the  right  of  preemption,  because  without  such 
a  right,  the  settler  was  in  danger  of  losing  whatever 
improvements  he  had  made.  In  1790,  James  Piggott  and 
forty-five  others  petitioned  for  such  a  right.  The  peti- 
tioners stated  that  they  had  settled  since  1783  and  had 
suffered  much  from  Indians.  They  could  not  cultivate 
their  land  except  under  guard.  Seventeen  families  had  no 
more  tillable  land  than  four  could  tend.  The  land  on  which 
they  lived  was  the  property  of  two  individuals.2 

Petitions  from  various  classes  of  settlers,  not  provided 
for  by  the  acts  of  June  20,  August  28,  and  August  29, 
1788,  led  Congress  to  pass  the  act  of  March  3,  1791.  By 
this  act,  four  hundred  acres  was  to  be  given  to  each  head 
of  a  family  who,  in  r'783,  was  resident  in  the  Illinois 
country  or  at  Vincennes,  and  who  had  since  moved  from 
the  one  to  the  other.  The  same  donation  was  to  be  made 
to  all  persons  who  had  moved  away,  if  they  should  return 
within  five  years.  Such  persons  should  also  have  confirmed 
to  them  the  land  they  originally  held.  This  was  intended 
to  bring  back  persons  who  had  gone  to  the  Spanish  side  of 
the  Mississippi.  Grants  previously  made  by  courts  having 
no  authority  should  be  confirmed  to  persons  who  had 
made  improvements,  to  an  extent  not  exceeding  four 
hundred  acres  to  any  one  person.  As  these  lands  had  in 
some  cases  been  repeatedly  sold,  the  parties  making  the 
improvements  were  frequently  guiltless  of  any  knowledge 
of  fraud.  The  Cahokia  commons  were  confirmed  to  that 
village.  One  hundred  acres  was  to  be  granted  to  each 
militiaman  enrolled  on  August  I,  1790,  and  who  had 
received  no  other  grant.1  This  act  throws  considerable 
light  on  the  causes  of  discontent  then  prevailing  among 

2.   "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  20. 

1.   " Statutes  at  Large, "  I.,  221-2. 


INDIAN  CCS5I0NS 
!  795  -  lOOQ 


THE   LAND   AND   INDIAN    QUESTIONS.  ~l 

the   settlers  and   on  the  conditions  to  which   immigrants 
came. 

This   same  spring,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Vincennes  had  gone  to  settle  at  New  Mad- 
rid.1    It  is  not  strange  that  the  act  of  March  3,  1 79 1,  made 
provisions  intended  to  induce  the  Americans  who  had  emi- 
grated to  the  Spanish  possessions  to  return.     The  history 
of  the  threatened    Spanish   aggression   upon   the   wrestern 
part  of  the  United  States  is  known  in  essence  to  anyone 
who  has  made  the  slightest  special  study  of  the  period  at 
which  it  was  at  its  height.     Morgan's   scheme  for  a  pur- 
chase of  land  in  Illinois  was  not  carried  out,  and  he  turned 
his  attention  to  peopling  his  settlement  at  New  Madrid. 
Down  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans  seemed  the  natural 
route    for    Illinois    commerce.     Slavery  flourished    unmo- 
lested west  of  the  Mississippi.     In  1794,  Baron  de  Caron- 
dolet  gave  orders  to  the  governor  of  Natchez  to  incite  the 
Chickasaw   Indians    to    expel   the   Americans    from    Fort 
Massac.     The  governor  refused  to  obey  the  order,  because 
Fort    Massac    had    been    occupied  by  the  Americans    in 
pursuance  of  a  request  by  the   Spanish   representative   at 
the  capital  of  the  United  States  that  the  president  would 
put   a   stop   to    the   proposed  expedition  of  the    French 
against  the  Spanish.     The  claim  was  advanced  by  Caron- 
dolet  that  the  Americans  had   no  right  to  the   land   on 
which  the  fort  stood,  but  that  the  land  belonged  to  the 
Chickasaws,  who  were  independent  allies  of  Spain.     Two 
other  reasons  given  for  not  obeying  the  order  were  that  it 
would  preclude  the  successful  issue  of  the  Spanish  intrigue 
for  the  separation  of  Kentucky  from  the  United  States, 
and  would  hinder  negotiations,  then  pending,  for  a  com- 
mercial  treaty  between    Spain   and  the    United    States.2 

1.  Hamtramck   to    Harmar,    from   Vincennes,    Apr.    14,    1791 — "Draper 
Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  410. 

2.  "Draper  MSS.,  Translation  of  Spanish  Documents,"  49-60. 

7 


74  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Carondolet  regarded  the  Indians  as  Spain's  best  defence 
against  the  Americans,1  yet  the  whites  prepared  for  defence, 
and  in  anticipation  of  the  proposed  French  expedition  of 
George  Rogers.  Clark,  a  garrison  of  thirty  men  and  an 
officer  was  placed  at  Ste.  Genevieve,  opposite  Kaskaskia. 
Carondolet  said  :  "This  will  suffice  to  prevent  the  smuggling 
carried  on  by  the  Americans  of  the  settlement  of  Kas- 
kaskias  situated  opposite,  which  increases  daily."2 

Early  in  1796,  a  petition  was  sent  from  Kaskaskia  to  Con- 
gress. The  petitioners  desired  that  they  might  be  permitted 
to  locate  their  donation  of  four  hundred  acres  per  family 
on  Long  Prairie,  a  few  miles  above  Kaskaskia,  on  the  Kas- 
kaskia River,  and  that  the  expense  of  surveying  the  land 
might  be  paid  by  the  United  States.  The  act  granting 
the  donation -land  had  provided  for  its  location  between 
the  Kaskaskia  and  the  Mississippi.  This  land  the  peti- 
tioners declared  to  be  private  land  and  some  of  it  was  of 
poor  quality.3  Confirmation  of  land  claims  directed  to  be 
made  upon  the  Governor's  visit  in  1790  were  delayed  by 
the  lack  of  a  surveyor  and  the  poverty  of  the  inhabitants.4 
The  petition  was  signed  by  John  Edgar,  William  Morrison, 
William    St.  Clair,  and  John  Demoulin5  "for  the  inhabi- 

1.  Carondolet  to  Duke  of  Alcudia,  from  New  Orleans,  Sept.  27,  1793  — 
"Draper  MSS.,  Translation  of  Spanish  Documents."  24,  second  pagination  of 
typewritten  matter. 

2.  Carondolet  to , — Ibid.,  33,  first  pagination  of  matter  in  long  hand. 

3.  "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  69. 

4.  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  398-9. 

5.  John  Edgar,  for  years  the  wealthiest  citizen  of  Illinois,  was  born  in  Ire- 
land, came  to  Kaskaskia  in  1784,  and  soon  became  a  large  landholder  by 
purchasing  French  donation -rights.  Wm,  Morrison,  a  native  of  Bucks 
county,  Pa.,  came  from  Philadelphia  to  Kaskaskia  in  1790  and  became  a 
leading  merchant  and  shipper.  Wm.  St.  Clair,  a  son  of  James  St.  Clair, 
once  captain  in  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the  service  of  France,  was  the  first  clerk 
of  the  court  of  St.  Clair  county.  John  Dumoulin  (or  De  Moulin)  was  a  Swiss. 
In  1790,  he  was  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  the  Cahokia 
district  of  St.  Clair  county. 


THE   LAND   AND   INDIAN    QUESTIONS.  75 

tants  of  the  counties  of  St.  Clair  and  Randolph"1 — the 
Illinois  counties.  The  petitioners  ranked  high  in  the 
mercantile  and  legal  life  of  the  Illinois  settlements,  but 
they  must  have  been  novices  in  the  art  of  petitioning  if 
they  thought  that  a  petition  signed  by  four  men  from  the 
Illinois  country,  with  no  sign  of  their  being  legally  repre- 
sentative, would  be  regarded  by  Congress  as  an  expression 
of  the  opinion  of  the  Northwest  Territory.  The  part  of 
the  petition  relating  to  lands  was  granted,  but  the  major 
part,  which  related  to  other  subjects,  was  denied  on  the 
ground  that  the  petitioners  probably  did  not  represent 
public  sentiment.2  During  this  same  year  Congress  denied 
a  number  of  petitions  for  the  right  of  preemption  in  the 
Northwest  Territory,  because  such  a  right  would  encourage 
illegal  settling.  It  was  also  during  this  year  that  the  first 
sales  of  public  land  in  the  Northwest  Territory  were 
authorized.  The  land  to  be  sold  was  in  what  is  now  Ohio. 
No  tract  of  less  than  four  thousand  acres  could  be  pur- 
chased.3 

In  1800,  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  inhabitants  of 
Illinois,  chiefly  French,  petitioned  Congress  that  Indian 
titles  to  land  in  the  southern  part  of  Illinois  might  be 
extinguished  and  the  land  offered  for  sale;  that  tracts  of 
land  at  the  distance  of  a  day's  journey  from  each  other, 
lying  between  Vincennes  and  the  Illinois  settlements, 
might  be  ceded  to  such  persons  as  would  keep  taverns,  and 

1.  St.  Clair  county  had  been  formed  in  1790  and  Randolph  county  in  1795. 
In  1796,  they  were  the  only  counties  lying  wholly  within  the  present  State  of 
Illinois.  A  strip  of  the  eastern  part  of  Illinois  lay  in  Knox  county.  The 
!ine  between  St.  Clair  and  Randolph  was  an  east-and-west  line,  a  little  south 
of  New  Design,  Randolph  lying  to  the  south  —  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  165, 
166,  345. 

2.  "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  68-9;  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  447-52,452-55. 

3.  "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  6S;  Poore,  "Desc.  Catalogue  of  Govt.  Publications," 
43  ;  "  Laws  of  U.  S.  Relating  to  Pub.  Lands,"  420-5. 


y6  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

that  one  or  two  garrisons  might  be  stationed  in  Illinois, 
The  petitioners  state  that  the  Kaskaskia  tribe  of  Indians 
numbered  not  more  than  fifteen  members  and  that  their 
title  to  land  could  be  easily  extinguished;  that  not  enough 
land  is  open  to  settlement  to  admit  a  population  sufficient 
to  support  ordinary  county  establishments;  that  roads  are 
much  needed,  and  that  many  of  the  inhabitants  are  cross- 
ing the  Mississippi  with  their  slaves.  The  petition  was 
not  considered.1 

A  new  factor  now  appears  in  the  forces  affecting  Illinois 
settlement.  The  Northwest  Territory  having  advanced  to 
the  second  grade  of  territorial  government,  in  December, 
1799,  its  delegate  took  his  seat  in  Congress.  The  step 
was  an  important  one  for  the  struggling  colony.  Before 
this  time  such  petitions  as  were  prepared  by  inhab- 
itants of  the  territory  for  the  consideration  of  Congress 
had  been  subjected  to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  being  addressed 
to  some  public  officer  or  of  being  confided  to  some  mem- 
ber of  Congress  who  represented  a  different  portion  of  the 
country.  Up  to  this  time  the  public  lands  could  only  be 
bought  in  tracts  of  four  thousand  acres.  Largely  through 
the  influence  of  the  delegate  from  the  Northwest  Territory, 
a  bill  was  passed  which  authorized  the  sale  of  sections  and 
half-sections.  In  consequence,  emigration  soon  began  to 
flow  rapidly  into  Ohio.  Land  in  Illinois  was  not  yet 
offered  for  sale,  but  this  bill  is  important  because  the  policy 
of  offering  land  in  smaller  tracts  was  to  continue.2 

The  territorial  delegate  was  also  active  in  procuring  the 
passage  of  a  bill  for  the  division  of  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory. While  the  bill  was  pending,  a  petition  from  Illinois, 
praying  for  the  division  and  for  the  establishment  of  such 

1.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  455-61 ;  "Annals  of  Cong.,  "6th  Cong.,  735. 

2.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  6th  Cong.,  537  — 53S ;  Poore,  "  Desc.  Catalogue  of 
Govt.  Publications,"  43;  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  73-8. 


THE   LAND   AND   INDIAN   QUESTIONS.  JJ 

a  government  in  the  western  part  as  was  provided  for  by 
the  Ordinance  of  1787,  was  presented.  The  act  for 
division  was  signed  by  the  President  on  May  7,  1800;  it 
formed  Indiana  Territory,  with  Vincennes  as  its  capital.1 

The  propositions  made  by  a  convention  of  representa- 
tives elected  by  the  citizens  of  Indiana  to  prepare  petitions 
to  Congress,  near  the  close  of  1802,  illustrate  the  needs  of 
the  time.  It  was  desired  that  the  Indian  title  to  land  lying 
in  Southern  Illinois  and  Southwestern  Indiana  might  be 
extinguished  and  the  land  sold  in  smaller  tracts  and  at  a 
lower  price2;  that  a  preemption  act  might  be  passed;  that 
a  grant  of  seminary  and  school  lands  might  be  made;  that 
land  for  taverns,  twenty  miles  or  less  apart,  might  be 
granted  along  certain  specified  routes;  that  donation-lands 
might  be  chosen  in  separate  tracts,  instead  of  in  three 
specified  areas,  in  order  to  avoid  "absolutely  useless" 
prairies,  and  also  lands  claimed  by  ancient  grants;  and  that 
the  qualification  of  a  freehold  of  fifty  acres  of  land,  pre- 
scribed for  the  electors  of  representatives  to  the  territorial 
legislature,  might  be  changed  to  manhood  suffrage,  because 
the  freehold  qualification  was  said  to  tend  "to  throw  too 
great  a  weight  in  the  scale  of  wealth."  The  petition  was 
considered  in  committees,  but  it  led  to  no  legislation.3 

1.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  58-9;  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  6th  Cong.,  507, 
699,  701. 

2.  According  to  the  Act  of  May  10,  1800,  public  land  was  to  be  sold  in 
tracts,  not  smaller  than  one- half  sections,  and  for  a  minimum  price  of  two 
dollars  per  acre.  One -twentieth  of  the  purchase -money  should  be  paid  at 
the  time  of  sale,  the  remainder  of  one -fourth  of  the  price  within  forty  days, 
one -fourth  in  two  years,  one -fourth  in  three  years,  and  one -fourth  in  four 
years.  On  the  last  three  payments,  interest  should  be  paid  at  six  per  cent 
from  the  date  of  sale,  and  on  the  same  three  payments  a  discount  of  eight 
per  cent  per  year  should  be  granted  for  prepayment.  Land  unpaid  for  reverted 
to  the  United  States  —  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  73-8. 

3.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  461-70;  "  Annals  of  Cong.,"  8th  Cong., 
1st  Sess.,  1023-4;  9th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  293-4,  466-8. 


78  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

None  of  the  above  complaints  was  better  founded  than 
that  concerning  the  restriction  of  the  suffrage,  and  it  is 
well  to  note  subsequent  proceedings  in  regard  to  it.  No 
qualification  less  suitable  to  the  time  and  place  could  well 
have  been  devised,  and  this  is  especially  true  of  the  Illinois 
portion  of  the  territory,  because  there  unsettled  French 
claims  were  to  delay  the  sales  of  public  lands  until  1814, 
and  thus  early  settlers  could  neither  buy  land  nor  vote 
unless  they  owned  it,  unless  indeed  they  purchased  land 
claims  from  the  needy  and  unbusiness-like  French.  An 
interesting  petition  of  1807  from  the  settlement  on  Rich- 
land Creek,1  for  the  right  of  preemption,  throws  light  upon 
conditions  then  obtaining.  The  petitioner  inclosed  a  map 
of  the  settlement,  with  the  following  explanation:  "Those 
persons  whose  names  are  enclosed  in  said  plot,  within  sur- 
veyed lines,  have  confirmed  and  located  rights,  amounting 
to  3,775  acres;  .  .  .  the  residue  of  the  said  settlers, 
occupying  about  6,000  acres  of  land,  have,  without  any 
right,  settled  upon  the  public  land."  The  map  shows  that 
there  were  eleven  owners  and  twenty -two  squatters.2  As 
the  law  then  stood,  the  twenty -two  squatters,  occupying 
more  than  three-fifths  of  the  land,  could  not  vote.  The 
eleven  land -owners  must  have  secured  their  land  either 
under  the  acts  of  1788  or  that  of  1 791,  or  by  the  purchase 
of  French  claims,  a  trade  vigorously  carried  on.  In  1808,3 
Congress  so  far  extended  the  suffrage  in  Indiana  as  to 
make  the  ownership  of  a  town  lot  worth  one  hundred 
dollars  an  alternative  qualification  to  the  possession  of  a 

1.  A  western  tributary  of  the  lower  part  of  the  Kaskaskia. 

2.  "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  591. 

3.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  469;  Poore,  "Charters  and  Constitutions," 
821,  832,  964,  973  ;  McMaster,  "Acquisition  of  the  .  .  .  Rights  of  Man  in 
Am.,"  in  -22;  "Proceedings  and  Debates  of  the  Va.  State  Conv.  of  1829- 
30,"  passim;  Mowry,  "The  Dorr  War,"  passim. 


THE   LAND   AND    INDIAN    QUESTIONS.  79 

freehold  of  fifty  acres.     This  was  in  advance  of  the  law  in 
some  of  the  Eastern  states. 

After  1802,  the  land  question  can  not  be  traced  without 
reference  to  the  Indian  question  in  Illinois.  That  question 
became  important  as  soon  as  American  occupation  was 
assured,  and  it  remained  important  for  fifty  years  after  the 
Revolution.  The  desire  of  the  American  settlers  for  land 
was  directly  counter  to  the  desire  of  the  Indians  to  preserve 
their  hunting-grounds.  Before  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  list  of  bloody  deeds  in  Illinois  had  grown 
long.1  The  United  States  Government  appreciated  the 
gravity  of  the  situation  and  early  made  efforts  to  purchase 
the  land  from  the  Indians.  That  part  of  the  treaty  of 
Greenville,  of  1795,  which  affected  Illinois,  extinguished 
the  Indian  title  to  a  tract  six  miles  square,  at  the  mouth  of 
Chicago  River;  one  six  miles  square,  at  Peoria;  one  twelve 
miles  square,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River;  the 
post  of  Fort  Massac,  and  the  land  in  the  possession  of  the 
whites.2  The  treaty  of  Fort  Wayne,  in  1803,  ceded  four 
square  miles  or  less,  at  the  salt  springs  on  Saline  Creek,  and 
some  land  west  and  southwest  from  Vincennes.  This  treaty, 
with  another  made  in  the  following  August,  ceded  three 
tracts  of  land,  each  one  mile  square,  between  Vincennes 
and  Kaskaskia,  to  be  sites  for  taverns.3  The  treaty  of 
Vincennes,  of  August,  1803,  ceded  land  in  Illinois  bounded 
by  the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi,  the  Illinois,  and  the  western 
watershed  of  the  Wabash,  except  three  hundred  and  fifty 

1.  "Draper  Coll.,  111.  MSS.,"  37,  39,  43,  54,  57,  58,  67,  102,  104,  107, 
108,  113;  "Pub.  Lands,"  I., 20;  "Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll., "VII.,  300;  "'Father 
Clark;'  or,  The  Pioneer  Preacher,"  181  et  seq. 

2.  "Indian  AfL,"  I.,  562;  "An.  Rept.  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,"  18, 
Pt.  2,  656-7,  Plates  CXXIV.,  CXXV.;  see  map  of  Indian  cessions,  1 795  — 
1809. 

3.  "An.  Rept.  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,"  18,  Pt.  2,  656-7;  Plates 
CXXIV.,  CXXV.;  "Indian  Aff.,"  I.,  688;  see  map  of  Indian  cessions. 


SO  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

acres  near  Kaskaskia,  and  twelve  hundred  and  eighty 
acres  to  be  located.  This  last  treaty  was  made  with  the 
depleted  Kaskaskia  tribe.1  As  the  claims  of  various  tribes 
overlapped,  an  Indian  treaty  rarely  signifies  that  all  con- 
troversy in  regard  to  the  land  ceded  is  at  an  end. 
Frequently  one  or  more  treaties  must  yet  be  made  with 
other  tribes,  and  frequently  a  tribe  refuses  to  abide  by  its 
agreement. 

Previous  to  1804,  no  land  was  sold  in  the  Northwest 
Territory  west  of  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River.  An 
act  of  March  26  of  that  year  provided  for  the  opening  of 
a  land-office  at  Detroit  to  sell  lands  north  of  Ohio;  one  at 
Vincennes  to  sell  lands  in  its  vicinity  ceded  by  the  treaty 
of  Fort  Wayne;  and  one"  at  Kaskaskia  to  sell  so  much  of 
the  land  ceded  by  the  treaty  of  Vincennes  (August,  1803) 
as  was  not  claimed  by  any  other  tribe  than  those  repre- 
sented in  the  cession.  The  register  and  the  receiver  of 
public  moneys  of  these  respective  districts  were  to  be 
commissioners  to  settle  private  land  claims.  Evidences  of 
claims  should  be  filed  before  January  1,  1805,  and  after 
the  adjustment  of  claims  the  public  lands  should  be  sold 
at  auction  to  the  highest  bidder.  Two  dollars  per  acre 
was  to  be  the  minimum  price;  no  land  should  be  sold 
in  less  than  quarter- sections,  except  fractional  portions 
caused  by  irregularities  in  topography  or  survey,  and  lands 
unsold  after  the  auction  might  be  sold  at  private  sale. 
Although  this  act  provided  for  the  sale  of  public  lands  in 
Illinois  after  private  claims  should  have  been  satisfied,,  and 
directed  that  such  claims  should  be  filed  not  later  than 
January  1,  1805,  Congress  repeatedly  extended  the  time 
for  the  filing  of  claims,  and  ten  years  after  the  passage  of 
this   act  there   were   still    unsatisfied   claims.2      Not   until 

1.  "Indian  Aff.,"  I.,  687;  "An.  Rept.  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,"  18, 
Ft.  2,  664-5,  Plate  CXXIV. ;  see  map  of  Indian  cessions. 

2.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  277-83,  343-5.  446-8,  517,  590-1. 


THE   LAND   AND    INDIAN    QUESTIONS.  8 1 

1 8 14  did  sales  of  public  land  begin  in  Illinois.  The  delay 
retarded  immigration  of  that  class  which  would  have  made 
the  most  desirable  citizens. 

By  the  treaty  of  St.  Louis,  November  3,  1804,  the  Sauk 
and  Foxes  ceded  that  part  of  Illinois  west  of  the  Illinois 
and  Fox  rivers.  Black  Hawk,  the  principal  chief  of  the 
Sauk,  did  not  sign  the  treaty.1  By  the  treaty  of  Vincennes, 
1805,  the  Piankashaws  ceded  a  tract  lying  between  the 
lower  Wabash  and  its  western  watershed.2  No  more  Indian 
titles  to  land  in  Illinois  were  extinguished,  and  no  public 
land  was  sold  in  Illinois  until  after  that  part  of  the  country 
became  a  separate  territory. 

Early  in  1806,  there  came  to  Congress  from  Illinois  a 
petition  which  betrayed  the  anxiety  of  the  French  settlers, 
and  of  the  Americans  who  had  bought  French  claims,  lest 
the  peculiar  shape  of  their  holdings  should  be  disturbed  by 
the  orderly  system  of  goverment  surveys.  The  petitioners 
asked  that  a  line  might  be  run  from  a  point  north  of 
Cahokia  to  an  unspecified  river  south  of  Kaskaskia,  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  include  all  settlements  between  the 
two  points,  and  that  the  land  so  included  be  exempt  from 
the  mode  of  survey  and  terms  of  sale  of  other  public  lands 
of  the  United  States.  The  petition  was  apparently  not 
reported  upon,  but  a  detailed  map  of  the  region  referred 
to  shows  that  the  holdings  were  left  in  their  bewildering 
complexity.3 

By  the  time  Indiana  Territory  was  divided  some  progress 
had   been  made  in   extinguishing   Indian  titles,  and  some 

1.  "Indian  Aff.,"  I.,  693-4;  "An.  Rept.  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology," 
18,  Pt.  2,  666-7,  Plate  CXXIV. ;  see  map  of  Indian  cessions. 

2.  "Indian  Aff.,"  I.,  704-5;  "An.  Rept.  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology," 
18,  Pt.  2,  672-3,  Plate  CXXIV.;  see  map  of  Indian  cessions. 

3.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  9th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  339;  see  map  in  the  "Hist, 
of  Randolph,  Monroe,  and  Perry  Counties,  111.,"  frontispiece. 


82  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

also  in  investigating  land  claims  of  the  French  and  their 
assignees;  but  the  American  immigrant  had  still  the  hard 
choice  of  buying  a  French  claim  with  uncertain  title  or 
squatting  on  government  land  with  the  risk  of  losing 
whatever  improvement  he  might  make,  and  often  the 
added  risk  of  being  killed  by  the  suspicious,  hostile, 
untrustworthy  Indians.  This  was  one  class  of  hindrances 
to  settlement.  Another  hindrance,  next  to  be  noticed,  was 
the  unstable  governmental  conditions  following  the  anarchy 
already  recited. 


II. 

Government  Succeeding  the  Period 
of  Anarchy,  1790  to  1809. 

WHEN  St.  Clair  County  was  formed,  in  1790,  it  was 
made  to  include  all  the  settlements  of  the  North- 
west Territory  to  the  westward  of  Vincennes.  On  account 
of  its  geographical  extent  it  was  divided  into  three  judicial 
districts,  but  it  could  not  be  made  into  three  separate 
counties,  because  there  were  not  enough  men  capable  of 
holding  office  to  furnish  the  necessary  officials.  The  Amer- 
ican settlers  were  few  and  a  large  proportion  of  them  were 
unskilled  in  matters  of  government,  while  the  French  were 
totally  unfit  to  govern.  In  1795,  St.  Clair,  when  referring 
to  conditions  in  1790,  wrote  that  since  then  the  population 
of  Illinois  had  decreased  considerably.1  Combining  this 
decrease  with  the  fact  that  there  were  in  the  settlements  in 
what  is  now  Missouri  1491  inhabitants  in  1785,  2093  in 
1788,  and  6028,  including  883  slaves,  in  1799,2  the  conclu- 

1.  St.  Clair   to  Judge   Turner,    from    Marietta,   May  2,    1795  —  "St.  Clair 
Papers,"  II.,  348-9. 

2.  Edwards,  "Great  West,"  271,  274-5;  figures  from  the  official  census. 


GOVERNMENT  SUCCEEDING  TERIOD  OF  ANARCHY.     83 

sion  is  inevitable  that    emigration  across  the  Mississippi 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  decrease  in  Illinois. 

In  1795,  notwithstanding  the  decreased  population,  and 
perhaps  in  the  hope  of  checking  the  decrease,  St.  Clair 
County  was  divided  by  proclamation  of  Governor  St.  Clair. 
The  division  was  by  an  east  and  west  line  running  a  little 
south  of  the  settlement  of  New  Design.1  St.  Clair  County 
lay  to  the  north,  Randolph  County  to  the  south  of  the  line.2 
The  early  laws  of  the  Northwest  Territory  throw  light 
upon  the  conditions  existing  upon  the  frontier.  Minute 
provisions  for  establishing  and  maintaining  ferries,  with  no 
mention  of  bridges,  indicate  the  primitive  methods  of 
travel.3  Millers  were  required  to  use  a  prescribed  set  of 
measures  and  to  grind  for  a  prescribed  toll,  the  toll  for  the 
use  of  a  horse-mill  being  higher  than  that  for  a  water- 
mill,  unless  the  owner  of  the  grain  furnished  the  horses.4 
Guide-posts  were  to  be  put  up  at  the  forks  of  every  public 
road.5  No  stray  stock  should  be  taken  up  between  the 
first  of  April  and  the  first  of  November,  unless  the  stray 
should  have  broken  into  the  inclosure  of  the  taker-up.6  In 
those  days  stock  was  turned  out  and  crops  were  fenced  in. 
Prairies  or  cleared  land  were  not  to  be  fired  except  between 
December  1  and  March  10,  unless  upon  one's  own  land.7 
The  following  rates  of  county  taxation  were  prescribed : 

Horses,  per  head not  more  than      $  .50 

Neat  cattle.. "       "          "  .12^ 

Bond  servant _   "       "         "  1.00 

Single  man,  21  yrs.  or  older,  with  less  than 

$200  worth  of  property,  not  more  than  2.00 

nor  less  than .50 

Retail  merchants io.oo8 

1.  See  map  of  Illinois  country.  5.  Ibid,,  1800,  I.,  178. 

2.  "St.ClairPapers,  "I.,  193;  II. ,345.     6.  Ibid.,  1800,  I.,  61-71. 

3.  "Laws  of  N.-W.  Ter.,"  1800,  I.,     7.  Ibid.,  1800,  I.,  119-21. 

47-51-  8.  Ibid.,  1800,  I.,  197. 

4.  Ibid.,  1800,  I.,  58-61. 


,84  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

A  bounty,  varying  at  different  times  between  1799  and 
18  io  from  50  cents  to  $2  per  head,  was  given  for  killing 
wolves.1  Imprisonment  for  debt,  a  law  antedating  by 
many  years  similar  laws  in  several  of  the  other  parts  of  the 
United  States,  was  practically  abolished.2  A  frontier 
region  does  not  have  that  social  stratification  which  makes 
oppression  of  the  debtor  class  easy.  A  county  too  poor 
to  build  a  log  jail  without  difficulty  is  not  likely  to  be  so 
senseless  as  to  make  a  practice  of  confining  and  boarding 
its  debtor  class. 

For  the  purpose  of  taxation  land  was  to  be  listed  in 
three  classes  according  to  value.  No  specification  as  to  the 
value  of  the  respective  classes  was  prescribed.  The  tax 
was  eighty-five,  sixty,  or  twenty- five  cents  per  one  hun- 
dred acres,  according  as  land  was  first,  second,  or  third 
class.  No  unimproved  land  in  Illinois  was  to  be  listed 
higher  than  second  class.3 

The  laws  above  cited  were  enacted  by  the  legislature  of 
the  Northwest  Territory.  In  May,  1800,  that  territory  was 
divided,  the  western  part,  including  Illinois,  becoming 
Indiana  Territory.  This  made  the  Illinois  country  more 
distinctly  frontier  by  again  reducing  it  to  the  first  grade  of 
territorial  government,  Indiana  Territory,  as  such,  not  being 
represented  in  Congress  until  December,  1805.4  Among 
the  reasons  advanced  for  dividing  the  Northwest  Territory 
was  the  fact  that  in  five  years  there  had  been  but  one 
court  for  criminal  cases  in  the  three  western  counties.5 

1.  "Laws  of  N.-W.  Ter.,  1800,"  I.,  226-7;  "Laws  of  111.  Ter.,  1815-16;" 
Ibid.,  "i8i6-i7,"4;  Ibid.,  "17-19." 

2.  "Laws  of  N.-W.    Ter.,    1800,"   I.,    157-61 ;    McMaster,    "Acquisition 
of  the  Pol.,  Social  and  Industrial  Rights  of  Man  in  Am.,"  64-66;  1 6th  Cong. 
2d  Sess.,  "Rept.  of  Com.  No.  63." 

3.  "Laws  of  N.-W.  Ter.,  1800,"  I.,  184-5. 

4.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  58-9;  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  6th  Cong.,  1007; 
Ibid.,  9th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  275.  5.    "Misc.,"  I.,  206-7. 


GOVERNMENT  SUCCEEDING  PERIOD  OF  ANARCHY.     85 

Illinois  soon  sought  admission  to  the  second  grade  of 
territorial  government.  In  April,  1801,  John  Edgar  wrote 
from  Kaskaskia  to  St.  Clair:  "During  a  few  weeks  past,  we 
have  put  into  circulation  petitions  addressed  to  Governor 
Harrison,  for  a  General  Assembly,  and  we  have  had  the 
satisfaction  to  find  that  about  nine-tenths  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  counties  of  St.  Clair  and  Randolph  approve  of 
the  measure,  a  great  proportion  of  whom  have  already  put 
their  signatures  to  the  petition.  ...  I  have  no  doubt 
but  that  the  undertaking  will  meet  with  early  success,  so  as 
to  admit  of  the  House  of  Representatives  meeting  in  the 
fall."1  The  movement  for  advancement  to  the  second 
grade  was  not,  however,  destined  to  such  early  success, 
and  when  it  did  take  place  such  a  change  had  occurred 
that  Illinois  was  much  enraged. 

The  Illinois  country  early  became  restive  under  the 
government  of  Indiana  Territory.  Much  the  same  causes 
for  discontent  existed  as  had  caused  Kentucky  to  wish  to 
separate  from  Virginia,  Tennessee  from  North  Carolina, 
and  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies  from  the  United 
States.  In  each  case  a  frontier  minority  saw  its  wishes,  if 
not  its  rights,  infringed  by  a  more  eastern  majority.  In 
each  case  the  eastern  people  were  themselves  too  weak  to 
furnish  sufficient  succor  to  the  struggling  West.  The 
conflict  was  natural  and  inevitable.  The  grave  charge 
against  Governor  Harrison,  who  had  large  powers  of  pat- 
ronage, was  local  favoritism.  So  discontented  was  Illinois, 
that  in  1803  it  had  petitioned  for  annexation  to  the  terri- 
tory of  Louisiana  when  such  territory  should  be  formed.2 
Antagonism  to  the  Indiana  government  became  still  more 
bitter  when,  in  December,  1804,  after  an  election  which 
was  so  hurried  that  an  outlying  county  did  not  get  to  vote, 

1.  "St.  Clair  Papers, "  II.,  533-4. 

2.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  Sth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  4S9,  1659-60. 


86  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

the  territory  entered  the  second  grade  of  territorial  gov- 
ernment.2 

In  the  summer  of  1805,  discontent  in  Illinois  was  again 
expressed  in  a  memorial  to  Congress.  About  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  inhabitants  of.  the  region  petitioned  for  a 
division  of  Indiana  Territory.  From  the  Illinois  settle- 
ments to  the  capital,  Vincennes,  was  said  to  be  one  hundred 
and  eighty  miles,  "through  a  dreary  and  inhospitable 
wilderness,  uninhabited,  and  which  during  one  part  of  the 
year,  can  scarcely  afford  water  sufficient  to  sustain  nature, 
and  that  of  the  most  indifferent  quality,  besides  presenting 
other  hardships  equally  severe,  while  in  another  it  is  part 
under  water,  and  in  places  to  the  extent  of  some  miles,  by 
which  the  road  is  rendered  almost  impassable,  and  the 
traveler  is  not  only  subjected  to  the  greatest  difficulties, 
but  his  life  placed  in  the  most  imminent  danger."  It 
resulted  that  the  attendance  of  Illinois  inhabitants  upon 
either  the  legislature  or  the  supreme  court  was  fraught 
with  many  inconveniences.  Because  of  the  extensive 
prairies  between  Illinois  and  Vincennes,  "a  communication 
between  them  and  the  settlements  east  of  that  river  [the 
Wabash]  can  not  in  the  common  course  of  things,  for 
centuries  yet  to  come,  be  supported  with  the  least  benefit, 
or  be  of  the  least  moment  to  either  of  them."  Illinois 
objected  to  having  been  precipitated  into  the  second  grade 
of  government.  In  the  election  for  that  purpose,  said  the 
memorialists,  only  Knox  county  voted  in  the  affirmative, 
and  Wayne  county  did  not  vote,  because  the  writs  of 
election  arrived  too  late.  Since  entering  the  second  grade 
the  County  of  Wayne  (Michigan)  had  been  struck  off.  It 
was  believed  that  if  the  prayer  for  separation  should  be 
granted,  the  rage  for  emigration  to  Louisiana  would,  in 
great  measure,  cease,  the  value  of  public  lands  in  Illinois 
2.    "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  486-7. 


GOVERNMENT  SUCCEEDING  PERIOD  OF  ANARCHY.     S? 

would  be  increased,  and  their  sale  would  also  be  more 
rapid,  while  an  increased  population  would  render  Illinois 
flourishing'  and  self-supporting  rather  than  a  claimant  for 
governmental  support.1 

At  the  same  time  that  Congress  received  the  above 
memorial,  it  received  a  petition  from  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  respective  houses  of  the  Indiana  legisla- 
ture. This  petition  asked  that  the  freehold  qualification 
for  electors  be  abolished;  that  Indiana  Territory  be  not 
divided,  and  that  the  undivided  territory  be  soon  made  a 
state.  It  was  said  that  the  people  were  too  poor  to 
support  a  divided  government,  and  that  as  the  general 
court  met  annually  in  each  county  it  was  slight  hardship 
to  the  frontier  to  have  the  supreme  court  meet  at  Vin- 
cennes.2  It  was  probably  true  at  this  time,  as  it  certainly 
was  in  1807,  that  the  general  court  met  as  above  stated. 
Appeal  by  bill  of  exceptions  was,  however,  allowed.  The 
supreme  court  had  no  original,  exclusive  jurisdiction.3 
Nothing  daunted  by  this  memorial  from  the  legislature, 
Illinois,  in  a  short  time,  prepared  another  memorial  —  this 
time  with  twenty  signatures.  This  adds  to  the  grievances 
recited  in  the  previous  memorial  that  the  wealthy  appeal 
cases  against  the  Illinois  poor  to  the  supreme  court  at 
Vincennes;  that  landholders  on  the  Wabash  are  interested 
in  preventing  the  population  of  lands  on  the  Mississippi; 
that  preemption  is  needed,  and  that  it  is  hoped  that  the 
general  government  will  not  pass  unnoticed  the  act  of  the 
last  legislature  authorizing  the  importation  of  slaves  into 
the  territory.  It  violates  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  The 
memorialists    desired    such    importation,  but    it    must   be 

1.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  483-92;  original  among  the  House  files  at 
Washington. 

2.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  476-S3. 

3.  "Laws  of  Ind.  Ter.,"  1807,  pp.  12-13. 


88  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

authorized  by  Congress  to  be  legal.     The  population  of 
Illinois  was  given  as  follows: 

By  the  census  of  April  i,  1801 2,361 

Inhabitants  of  Prairie  du  Chien  and  on  the 

Illinois   River,  not  included  in  above 550 

"Emigration"   since  1801,  at  least  one-third 

increase 750 

Settlements  on  the  Ohio  River 650 

4.3H1 
The  truth  of  some  of  the  complaints  from  Illinois  is 
apparent.  That  a  land  company  on  the  Wabash  wished 
to  hinder  settlement  on  the  Mississippi  is  probably  true, 
for  Matthew  Lyon,  of  Kentucky,  said  in  Congress,  in  the 
winter  of  1805-6:  "The  price  of  lands  is  various.  I 
know  of  two  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  on  the 
Wabash,  which  is  offered  for  sale  at  twenty  cents  per 
acre."^  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  company  making 
the  offer  could  not  give  a  secure  title  to  the  land. 

In  1806,  a  congressional  committee  reported  on  the 
various  memorials  and  petitions  from  Illinois,  but  the 
report  led  to  no  legislation  and  thus  settled  nothing,  and 
in  1807  petitioning  continued.3  Illinois  again  petitioned 
for  separation  from  the  remainder  of  Indiana  Territory, 
this  petition  bearing  seventeen  signatures.  An  inclosed 
census  is  lost,  but  a  population  of  five  thousand  is  spoken 
of.  A  new  and  significant  paragraph  occurs:  "When 
your  Memorialists  contemplate  the  probable  movements 
which  may  arise  out  of  an  European  peace,  now  apparently 
about  to  take  place,  they  cannot  but  feel  the  importance 
of  union,  of  energy,  of  population   on   this   shore  of  the 

1.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  49S-506. 

2.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  9th  Cong.,  1st  Session,  469. 

3.  Ibid.,  466-8;  "Misc.,"  I.,  450;   "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  494-7. 


GOVERNMENT  SUCCEEDING  TERIOD  OF  ANARCHY.     89 

Mississippi  —  they  cannot  but  shudder  at  the  horrors  which 
may  arise  from  a  disaffection  in  the  West  ..."  A 
government  was  needed,  and  that  of  Indiana  Territory 
was  not  acceptable  to  the  people  of  Illinois.  One  hundred 
and  two  inhabitants  of  Illinois  sent  a  counter-petition,  in 
which  they  said  that  Illinois  had  paid  no  taxes  and  needed 
no  separate  government,  also  that  the  committee  that 
prepared  the  above  petition  was  not  legally  chosen.  Most 
of  the  signers  of  the  petition  were  Americans,  while  most 
of  the  signers  of  the  counter- petition  were  French,  forty- 
two  of  the  latter  being  illiterate.1  The  report  of  a  con- 
gressional committee  on  the  petition  was  adverse,2  as  was 
also  a  report  on  three  petitions  for  division  that  came  from 
Illinois  in  the  spring  of  1S08.3  In  the  following  December, 
the  representative  of  Indiana  Territory  in  Congress  was 
appointed  chairman  of  a  committee  to  consider  the  expe- 
diency of  dividing  the  territory,  and  to  this  committee 
petitions  both  for  and  against  division  were  referred. 
This  territorial  delegate  was  in  favor  of  division,  and  his 
committee  presented  a  favorable  report,  in  which  the 
number  of  inhabitants  of  Indiana  east  of  the  Wabash  was 
estimated  to  be  seventeen  thousand,  and  the  number  west 
of  the  Wabash  to  be  eleven  thousand  —  numbers  thought 
to  be  sufficiently  large  to  justify  division,  and  an  estimate 
which  the  census  of  18 10  proves  to  have  been  almost 
correct.  In  February,  1809,  the  bill  providing  for  the 
division  so  ardently  desired  by  Illinois  was  approved,  the 
division  to  take  place  on  the  first  of  the  next  March. 
The  western  division  was  to  be  known  as  Illinois  Territory 
and  was  to  have  for  its  eastern  boundary  a  line  due  north 
from  Vincennes  to  the  Canadian  line.4     In  the  debate  in 

1.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  505-10. 

2.  "H.  J.,"  8th  and  9th  Cong.,  611. 

3.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  10th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  1976,  2067. 

4.  Ibid.,   icth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  971-3,  1093;  "Stat,  at  Large,"  II.,  514-16. 


90  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

the  House  of  Representatives,  preceding  the  passage  of 
the  bill  for  division,  the  arguments  in  its  favor  were  that 
the  Wabash  was  a  natural  dividing  line;  that  a  wide 
extent  of  wilderness  intervened  between  Vincennes  and 
the  western  settlements;  that  the  power  of  the  executive 
was  enervated  by  the  dispersed  condition  of  the  settle- 
ments; that  to  render  justice  was  almost  impossible;  that 
the  United  States  would  be  more  than  compensated  for 
the  increased  expense  by  the  rise  in  value  of  the  public 
lands.  Opponents  of  the  bill  declared  that  the  complaints 
made  by  Illinois  were  common  to  many  parts  of  the 
country;  that  the  number  of  officers  would  be  needlessly 
increased  by  the  proposed  division;  and  that  "a  compli- 
ance with  this  petition  would  but  serve  to  foster  their 
factions,  and  produce  more  petitions."  No  significant 
geographical  division  of  the  vote  on  the  bill  is  apparent.1 


III. 

Obstacles  to  Immigration 

1790   TO    1809. 

IN  addition  to  the  inability  to  secure  land  titles  on  account 
of  unsettled  French  claims,  to  the  presence  of  Indians- 
and  to  the  discontent  with  the  government  of  Indiana 
Territory,  almost  every  cause  which  made  settlement  on 
the  frontier  difficult  was  found  in  the  Illinois  country  in 
its  most  pronounced  form,  because  Illinois  was  the  far 
corner  of  the  frontier.  The  census  reports  of  the  United 
States  give  the  following  statistics  of  population: 

1.   "Annals  of  Cong.,"  10th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  1093-4. 


OBSTACLES   TO    IMMIGRATION.  9 1 

1790.  1S00.  1 810. 

Kentucky 73,^77         220,955         406,511 

Ohio 45,365         230,760 

Indiana 2,517  24,520 

Illinois 2,458  12,282 

These  figures  show  how  conspicuously  small  was  the 
immigration  to  Illinois.  Enough  has  already  been  said 
to  show  some  of  the  reasons  for  this  sluggish  settlement. 
When,  in  1793,  Governor  St.  Clair  wrote  to  Alexander  Ham- 
ilton, "In  compassion,to  a  poor  devil  banished  to  another 
planet,  tell  me  what  is  doing  in  yours,  if  you  can  snatch  a 
moment  from  the  weighty  cares  of  your  office," r  he 
doubtless  felt  that  the  language  was  not  too  strong,  and 
voiced  a  feeling  of  loneliness  that  was  common  to  the 
settlers.  Nor  was  there  a  lack  of  land  in  the  East  to 
make  westward  movement  imperative.  Massachusetts  was 
much  opposed  to  her  people  emigrating  to  Ohio,  because 
she  wished  them  to  settle  on  her  own  eastern  frontier 
(Maine),  and  Vermotlt  and  New  York  had  vacant  lands.2 

One  who  settled  in  Illinois  at  this  period  came  through 
danger  to  danger,  for  Indians  lurked  in  the  woods  and 
malaria  waited  in  the  lowlands.  The  journey  made  by 
the  immigrants  was  tedious  and  difficult,  and  was  often 
rendered  dangerous  by  precipitous  and  rough  hills  and 
swollen  streams,  if  the  journey  was  overland,  or  by  snags, 
shoals  and  rapids,  if  by  water.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
settlers  came  from  Maryland,  Virginia,  or  the  Carolinas. 
Those  from  Virginia  and  Maryland  were  induced  to 
emigrate  by  the  glowing  descriptions  of  the  Illinois  coun- 
try given  by  the  soldiers  of  George  Rogers  Clark,  and 
these  soldiers  sometimes  led  the  first  contingent.  A 
typical  Virginia  settlement  in  Illinois  was  that  called  New 

1.  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  318. 

2.  Cutler,  "Life  of  Manasseh  Cutler,"  II.,  382. 


92  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Design,  located  in  what  is  now  Monroe  county,  between 
Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia.  Founded  about  1786  by  a  native 
of  Berkeley  county,  the  settlement  received  important 
additions  in  1793,  and  four  years  later  a  party  of  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  arrived  from  near  the  head- 
waters of  the  south  branch  of  the  Potomac,  this  last 
contingent  led  by  a  Baptist  minister,  who  had  organized  a 
church  on  a  previous  visit.1  In  general,  persons  Scotch- 
Irish  by  birth  were  opposed  to  slavery,  as  were  also  the 
members  of  the  Quaker  church.  This  caused  a  consider- 
able emigration  from  the  Carolinas,  Another  motive  for 
people  from  all  sections  was  that  expressed  by  settlers  of 
Illinois,  in  1806,  when  they  said  that  they  came  west  in 
order  to  secure  "such  an  establishment  in  land  as  they 
despaired  of  ever  being  able  to  procure  in  the  old  settle- 
ments."2 We  have  seen  how  long  deferred  was  the 
fulfillment  of  their  hope  of  getting  a  title  to  the  coveted 
land.  Although  the  East  was  not  crowded,  it  is  true  that 
land  there  was  more  expensive  than  that  of  the  same 
quality  in  the  West.  In  1806,  three  dollars  per  acre  was 
the  maximum  price  in  even  the  settled  parts  of  Indiana 
Territory,  while  fifty  dollars  per  acre  had  been  paid  for 
choice  Kentucky  land.3 

The  greater  number  of  immigrants  came  by  water,  but 
a  family  too  poor  to  travel  thus,  or  whose  starting-point 
was  not  near  a  navigable  stream,  could  come  overland. 
Illinois  was  favored  by  having  a  number  of  large  rivers 
leading  toward  it;  the  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Cumberland,  Ten- 
nessee, and  their  tributaries  were  much  used  by  emigrants. 

1.  "'Father  Clark,'  or  the  Pioneer  Preacher,"  202;  Moses,  "Illinois," 
I.,  228. 

2.  "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  256. 

3.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  9th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  469.  The  land  bought  in 
.Kentucky  was  probably  near  Eddyville,  which  the  purchaser  founded. 


OBSTACLES   TO   IMMIGRATION.  93 

The  chief  route  by  land  was  the  Wilderness  Road,  over 
which  thousands  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kentucky  had  come. 
Its  existence  helps  to  explain  the  wonderful  growth  of 
Kentucky — in  1774  the  first  cabin,  in  1790  a  population  o*" 
73,000.  It  crossed  the  mountains  at  Cumberland  Gap, 
wound  its  way  by  the  most  convenient  course  to  Crab 
Orchard,  and  was  early  extended  to  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio 
and  later  to  Vincennes  and  St.  Louis.  The  legislature  of 
Kentucky  provided,  in  1795,  that  the  road  from  Cumberland 
Gap  to  Crab  Orchard  should  be  made  perfectly  commodious 
and  passable  for  wagons  carrying  a  weight  of  one  ton,  and 
appropriated  two  thousand  pounds  for  the  work.  Two 
years  later  five  hundred  dollars  were  appropriated  for  the 
repair  of  the  road,  and  the  highway  was  made  a  turnpike 
with  prescribed  toll,  although  it  did  not  become  such  a 
road  as  the  word  turnpike  suggests.1 

A  traveler  of  1807  described  the  river  craft  of  the  period. 
The  smallest  kind  in  use  was  a  simple  log  canoe.  This 
was  followed  by  the  pirogue,  which  was  a  larger  kind  of 
canoe  and  sufficiently  strong  and  capacious  to  carry  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  barrels  of  salt.  Skiffs  were  built  of  all 
sizes,  from  five  hundred  to  twenty  thousand  pounds  burden, 
and  batteaux  were  the  same  as  the  larger  skiffs,  being 
indifferently  known  by  either  name.  Kentucky  boats  were 
strong  frames  of  an  oblong  form,  varying  in  size  from 
twenty  to  fifty  feet  in  length  and  from  ten  to  fourteen  in 
breadth,  were  sided  and  roofed,  and  guided  by  huge  oars. 
New  Orleans  boats  resembled  Kentucky  boats,  but  were 
larger  and  stronger  and  had  arched  roofs.  The  largest 
could  carry  four  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  of  flour.  Keel 
boats  were  generally  built  from  forty  to  eighty  feet  in 
length  and  from  seven  to  nine  feet  in  width.     The  largest 

1.   Littell,  "Laws  of  Ky.,"  I.,  275-7,  687;  Speed,  " The  Wilderness  Road," 

fassi?n. 


94  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

required  one  man  to  steer  and  two  to  row  in  descending 
the  Ohio,  and  would  carry  about  one  hundred  barrels  of 
salt;  but  to  ascend  the  stream,  at  least  six  or  eight  men 
were  required  to  make  any  considerable  progress.  A  barge 
would  carry  from  four  thousand  to  sixty  thousand  pounds, 
and  required  four  men,  besides  the  helmsman,  to  descend 
the  river,  while  to  return  with  a  load  from  eight  to  twelve 
men  were  required.1 

Shipments  of  produce  from  Illinois  were  usually  made 
in  flat-bottomed  boats  of  fifteen  tons  burden.  Such  a 
boat  cost  about  one  hundred  dollars,  the  crew  of  five 
men  was  paid  one  hundred  dollars  each,  the  support 
of  the  crew  was  reckoned  at  one  hundred  dollars,  and 
insurance  at  one  hundred  dollars,  thus  making  a  freightage 
cost  of  eight  hundred  dollars  for  fifteen  tons.  The  boat 
was  either  set  adrift  or  sold  for  the  price  of  firewood 
at  New  Orleans.  It  was  estimated  that  the  use  of  boats 
of  four  hundred  and  fifty  tons  burden  would  save  four 
dollars  per  barrel  on  shipping  flour  to  New  Orleans,  where 
flour  had  often  sold  at  less  than  three  dollars  per  barrel, 
but  such  boats  were  not  yet  used  in  the  West.2  Canoes 
cost  an  emigrant  from  one  to  three  dollars;  pirogues,  five 
to  twenty  dollars;  small  skiffs,  five  to  ten  dollars;  large 
skiffs  or  batteaux,  twenty  to  fifty  dollars;  Kentucky  and 
New  Orleans  boats,  one  dollar  to  one  and  one-half  dollars 
per  foot;  keel  boats,  two  dollars  and  a  half  to  three 
dollars  per  foot;  and  barges,  four  to  five  dollars  per  foot.3 

Horses,  cattle,  and  household  goods  were  carried  on 
boats.  Travel  by  either  land  or  water  was  beset  with 
difficulties.     The  river,  without  pilot  or  dredge,  had  dan- 

i.   Schultz,  "Travels  on  an  Inland  Voyage,"  I.,  129-32. 

2.  "Annals  of  Cong. ,"  9th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  1049.  Speech  by  Matthew 
Lyon  of  Kentucky. 

3.  Schultz,  "Travels  on  an  Inland  Voyage,"  I.,  132. 


OBSTACLES   TO   IMMIGRATION.  95 

gers  peculiar  to  itself.  Sometimes,  when  traveling  over- 
land, a  broken  wheel  or  axle,  or  a  horse  lost  or  stolen  by 
Indians,  caused  protracted  and  vexatious  delays.  It  is 
well  to  notice,  also,  that  to  travel  a  given  distance  into  the 
wilderness  was  more  than  twice  as  difficult  as  to  travel 
one-half  that  distance,  because  of  the  constantly  increasing 
separation  between  the  traveler  and  what  had  previously 
been  his  base  of  supplies.1 

Sometimes  immigrants  debarked  at  Fort  Massac  and 
completed  their  journey  by  land.  Two  roads  led  from 
Fort  Massac,  one  called  the  lower  road  and  the  other 
the  upper  road,  the  former,  practicable  only  in  the  dry 
season  and  then  only  for  travel  on  foot  or  on  horseback> 
was  some  eighty  miles  long,  while  the  latter  was  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  long.  Roads  of  a  like  character 
connected  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia.2 

A  party  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty,  which 
came  from  Virginia  to  the  New  Design  settlement  in  1797, 
set  out  from  the  south  branch  of  the  Potomac.  They  came 
from  Redstone  (now  Brownsville),  on  the  Monongahela,  to 
Fort  Massac,  on  fiat-boats,  and  then  by  land,  in  twenty- 
one  days,  to  New  Design.  The  summer  was  wet  and  hot,  a 
malignant  fever  broke  out  among  the  newcomers,  and  one- 
half  of  them  died  before  winter.  The  old  settlers  were 
not  affected  by  the  fever,  but  they  were  too  few  to  prop- 
erly care  for  so  many  immigrants.3 

Commerce  in  Illinois  was  in  its  infancy.     Some  cattle, 

1.  For  Vivid  accounts  of  journeys  between  the  East  and  Ohio,  giving  an 
excellent  idea  of  the  difficulties  of  transit,  in  the  period  1795  -1809,  see 
Cutler,  "Life  and  Times  of  Ephraim  Cutler,"  17-22,  38-41,  90-103;  also, 
many  passages  in  Cutler,  "Life,  Journals  and  Corr.  of  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler." 
A  similar  journey  made  in  1790  is  described  in  "St.  Clair  Papers,"  II.,  164. 

2.  Collot,  "Journey  in  N.  A.,"  I.,  192-3,  239. 

3.  "  'Father  Clark,' or  The  Pioneer  Preacher,"  193. 


<)6  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

corn,  pork,  and  various  other  commodities  were  sent  at 
irregular  intervals  to  New  Orleans.1  The  fur  trade  was 
carried  on  much  as  under  the  French  regime.  Salt  was 
made  at  the  salt  springs  on  Saline  Creek,  the  labor  being 
performed  chiefly  by  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  slaves 
under  the  supervision  of  contractors  who  leased  the  works 
from  the  United  States.  The  contractors  agreed  to  sell  no 
salt  at  the  works  for  more  than  fifty  cents  per  bushel,  but 
by  means  of  silent  partners  to  whom  the  entire  supply 
was  sold,  the  price  was  sometimes  raised  as  high  as  two 
dollars  per  bushel.2  The  commerce  of  the  West  suffered 
from  a  lack  of  vessels  going  from  New  Orleans  to  Atlantic 
ports,  and  as  a  result  corn  sold  in  New  Orleans  at  fifty 
cents  per  bushel  in  1805,  while  in  some  of  the  Atlantic 
ports  it  sold  for  more  than  two  dollars.  At  the  same  time 
the  West  had  a  good  crop,  and  Kentucky  alone  could  have 
spared  five  hundred  thousand  bushels  of  corn,  if  it  could 
have  been  shipped.3 

To  secure  laborers  was  difficult.  A  petition  of  1796 
said  that  farm  laborers  could  not  be  secured  for  less  than 
one  dollar  per  day,  exclusive  of  washing,  lodging,  and 
boarding;  that  every  kind  of  tradesman  was  paid  from 
one  dollar  and  a  half  to  two  dollars  per  day,  and  that  at 
these  prices  laborers  were  scarce.  Labor  was  cheaper  on 
the  Spanish  side  of  the  Mississippi,  because  of  the  larger 
proportion  of  slaves.4  These  wages  were  doubtless  high 
in  comparison  with  those  paid  in  the  East,  just  as  the  one 
dollar  per  day  and  board  paid  at  the  Galena  lead  mines  in 

1.  Schultz,  "Travels  on  an  Inland  Voyage,"  II.,  3S. 

2.  Cuming,  "Sketches  of  a  Tour,"  245;  Schultz,  "Travels  on  an  Inland 
Voyage,"  I.,  199;  Moses,  "Illinois,"  I.,  265. 

3.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  9th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  1049.  Speech  by  Matthew 
Lyon  of  Kentucky. 

4.  "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  69;   "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  44S. 


OBSTACLES   TO    IMMIGRATION.  97 

17SS  was  more  than  double  the  wages  then  paid  in  New 
England,'  but  an  Illinois  price  list  of  1795  shows  that  the 
wages  of  1796  were  by  no  means  comparable  to  those  of 
today  in  purchasing  power.  Making  shoes  was  two  dollars 
per  pair;  potatoes  were  one  dollar  per  bushel;  brandy, 
one  dollar  per  quart;   corn,  one  dollar  per  bushel.2 

Among  the  early  difficulties  in  the  way  of  settlement, 
one  of  the  most  persistent  was  the  presence  of  prairies. 
This  is  by  no  means  far-fetched,  although  it  sounds  so  to 
modern  ears.  In  1786,  Monroe  wrote  to  Jefferson  con- 
cerning the  Northwest  Territory:  "A  great  part  of  the 
territory  is  miserably  poor,  especially -that  near  Lakes 
Michigan  and  Erie,  and  that  upon  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Illinois  consists  of  extensive  plains  which  have  not  had, 
from  appearances,  and  will  not  have,  a  single  bush  on 
them  for  ages.  The  districts,  therefore,  within  which  these 
fall  will  never  contain  a  sufficient  number  of  inhabitants 
to  entitle  them  to  membership  in  the  confederacy."3 
Some  of  the  most  fertile  of  the  Illinois  prairies  were  not 
settled  until  far  into  the  nineteenth  century.  The  false 
prophets  of  the  early  days  will  be  judged  less  harshly  if 
we  recall  that  wood  was  then  a  necessity,  that  no  railroads 
and  few  roads  existed,  that  wells  now  in  use  in  prairie 
regions  are  much  deeper  than  the  early  settlers  could  dig, 
and  that  the  vast  quantities  of  coal  under  the  surface  of 
Illinois  were  undiscovered. 

As  causes  for  the  fact  that  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  after  the  Revolution,  Illinois  had  a  population 
estimated  at  only  eleven  thousand,  may  be  sugg'ested  the 

1.  Ethelbert  Stewart,  "A  Few  Notes  for  an  Industrial  Hist,  of  111.,"  in 
"Pub.  No.  8  of  the  111.  Hist.  Lib.,"  120. 

2.  "Draper  Coll.,  111.  MSS.,"  73,  74.  Original  accounts  of  Wm.  Biggs, 
high  sheriff  of  the  county  of  St.  Clair  in  the  N.-W.  Ter. 

3.  Hamilton,  "Writings  of  James  Monroe,"  I.,  117. 


98  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

presence  of  hostile  Indians;  the  inability  of  settlers  to 
secure  a  title  to  their  land;  the  unsettled  condition  of  the 
slavery  question;  the  great  distance  from  the  older  por- 
tions of  the  United  States  and  from  any  market;  the  fact 
that  Kentucky,  Ohio,  and  Indiana  had  vast  quantities  of 
unoccupied  land  more  accessible  to  emigrants  than  was 
Illinois;  the  danger  and  the  cost  of  moving;  privation 
incident  to  a  scanty  population,  such  as  lack  of  roads, 
schools,  churches  and  mills;  the  existence  of  large  prairies 
in  Illinois.  To  remove  or  mitigate  these  difficulties  was 
still  the  problem  of  Illinois  settlers.  On  some  of  them  a 
beginning  had  been  made  before  1809,  but  none  were  yet 
removed. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Illinois  During  Its  Territorial  Period 

1809  to   181 8. 

I. 

The   Land  and   Indian   Questions. 

PROBABLY  nothing  affected  settlement  in  Illinois  from 
1809  to  18 18  more  profoundly  than  did  changes  in 
the  land  question,  for  during  this  period  Congress  passed 
important  acts  relative  to  land  sales,  and  this  was  also  the 
period  of  the  first  sales  of  public  lands  in  the  territory.  It 
seems  strange  that  such  sales  should  have  been  so  long 
delayed,  yet  the  settlement  of  French  claims,  although 
begun  by  the  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory  at  an 
early  day,  and  continued  by  commissioners  authorized  by 
Congress  and  appointed  in  1804,  was  incomplete  when 
Illinois  became  a  separate  territory,  and  the  United  States 
government  adhered  to  its  policy  of  selling  no  land  in  the 
territory  until  the  claims  were  finally  adjudicated.  When 
a  list  of  decisions  reported  by  the  commissioners  to  Con- 
gress late  in  1809  was  confirmed  in  the  following  May,1  and 
the  next  year  a  long  list  of  rejected  claims  arising  chiefly 
from  the  work  of  professional  falsifiers,  was  reported,2  it 
seemed  probable  that  the  work  was  nearing  completion, 
but  a  final  settlement  was  still  delayed,  and  the  long- 
suffering  Illinois  squatters  were  bitterly  disappointed  when, 
in  February,  18 12,  in  accordance  with  a  resolution  pre- 
sented by  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands,  Congress  made 
provision  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  revise  the 
confirmations  made  by  the  Governor  years  before.3     The 

1.    "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  607.  2.   "Pub.  Lands,"  II.,  123. 

3.    "Statutes at  Large,"  II., 677;  "Pub.  Lands,"  II. ,254-5,  257-8,  210-41. 

99 


100  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

first  legislature  of  Illinois  met  in  the  succeeding  Novem- 
ber, and  adopted  a  memorial  to  Congress  in  which  it  was 
pointed  out  that  the  establishment  of  a  land -office  in  the 
territory,  several  years  before,  had  led  to  the  opinion  that 
the  public  land  would  soon  be  sold,  and  that  because  of 
this  opinion  those  who  constituted  the  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  territory  had  been  induced  to  settle, 
hoping  that  they  would  have  an  opportunity  to  purchase 
land  before  they  should  have  made  such  improvements  as 
would  tempt  the  competition  of  avaricious  speculators. 
The  fulfillment  of  this  hope  having  been  long  deferred, 
many  squatters  had  now  made  valuable  improvements 
which  they  were  in  danger  of  losing,  either  at  the  public 
sales  of  land  or  through  the  designs  of  the  few  specu- 
lators who  had  bought  from  the  needy  and  unbusinesslike 
French  most  of  the  unlocated  claims.  For  the  relief  of 
the  squatters  a  law  was  desired  that  would  permit  actual 
settlers  to  enter  the  land  on  which  their  improvements 
stood,  and  requiring  persons  holding  unlocated  claims  to 
locate  them  on  unimproved  lands  lying  in  the  region 
designated  by  Congress  for  that  purpose.  It  was  also 
hoped  that  as  Congress  had  given  one  hundred  acres  of 
land  to  each  regular  soldier,  as  much  would  be  granted  to 
each  member  of  the  Illinois  militia,  since  the  militiaman 
had  not  only  fought  as  bravely  as  the  regular,  but  had 
also  furnished  his  own  supplies.  If  such  a  donation  was 
not  made  it  was  hoped  that  a  right  of  preemption  would 
be  given  to  the  militia,  or  failing  even  this,  that  they  might 
be  given  the  right,  legally,  to  collect  from  anyone  entering 
their  land,  the  value  of  their  improvements.1  In  proof  of 
the  fact  stated  in  the  memorial,  that  speculators  had  bought 
many  French  claims,  it  may  be  noted  that  William   Mor- 

i.   "Territorial  Records  of  111.,"  ("Pub.  of  111.  State  Hist.  Lib.,"  No.  III., 
109-10). 


TERRITORIAL    PERIOD.  101 

rison  had  ninety-two  of  the  claims  granted  at  Kaskaskia, 
his  affirmed  claims  comprising  more  than  eighteen  thousand 
acres,  exclusive  of  a  large  number  of  claims  measured  in 
French  units,  while  John  Edgar  received  a  satisfactory- 
report  on  claims  aggregating  more  than  forty  thousand 
acres,  in  addition  to  a  number  of  claims  previously  affirmed 
to  him.1 

A  few  days  after  preparing  the  above  memorial,  the 
legislature  prepared  an  address  to  Congress,  in  which 
reference  was  made  to  the  arrangement  made  between 
Congress  and  Ohio  by  the  Act  of  April  30,  1802,  granting 
to  Ohio  two  salt  springs  on  condition  that  the  state  should 
agree  not  to  tax  such  public  lands  as  should  be  sold  within 
her  borders,  until  after  five  years  from  the  date  of  sale. 
Illinois  wished  in  similar  fashion  to  gain  control  of  the  salt 
springs  on  Saline  creek.  The  Illinois  delegate  in  Congress 
was  instructed  that  if  the  bargain  could  not  be  made,  he 
should  attempt  to  secure  an  appropriation  for  opening  a 
road  from  Shawneetown  to  the  Saline  and  thence  to  Kas- 
kaskia. It  was  also  desired  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  should  authorize  the  designation  of  the  college 
township  reserved  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787  and  by  the 
Act  of  1804,  and  because  "labor  in  this  Territory  is  abun- 
dant, and  laborers  at  this  time  extremely  scarce,"  it  was 
hoped  that  slaves  from  Kentucky  or  elsewhere  might  be 
employed  at  the  salines  for  a  period  of  not  more  than 
three  years,  after  which  they  should  return  to  their  mas- 
ters.2 Each  prayer  of  this  address  was  granted.  The 
enabling  act  and  the  Illinois  constitution  ceded  the  salt 
springs  to  the  state    and  agreed  that  public  lands  sold  in 

1.  "'Pub.  Lands,"  II.,  157-81,  210-41. 

2.  "Territorial  Records  of  111.,"  ("Pub.  of  the  111.  State  Hist.  Lib.,"  No. 
III.,  118-20);  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  175;  "Annals  of  Cong."  (ed.  1853), 
I2lh  Cong.,  III.,  883,  1011,  1015. 


102  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Illinois  should  be  exempt  from  taxation  for  five  years  from 
date  of  sale;  the  Illinois  Constitution  provided  for  the 
employment  of  slaves  at  the  salt  works;  an  act  provided 
for  the  location  of  the  college  township;  and  in  1816  the 
making  of  the  desired  road  was  authorized,  although  at 
the  beginning  of  18 18  the  route  had  been  merely  surveyed 
and  mapped.1 

The  memorial  which  preceded  the  address  was  also  in 
large  measure  successful.  An  act  of  February,  18 13, 
granted  to  the  squatters  in  Illinois  the  right  of  preempting 
a  quarter  section,  each,  of  the  lands  they  occupied,  and  of 
entering  the  land  upon  the  payment  of  one -twentieth  of 
the  purchase  money,  as  was  then  required  in  private  sales.2 
This  act  was  of  prime  importance.  For  more  than  thirty 
years  settlers  in  Illinois  had  improved  their  lands  at  the 
risk  of  losing  them.  Since  the  appointment,  in  1804,  of 
commissioners  to  settle  the  French  land  claims,  the  settlers 
had  been  expecting  the  public  lands,  including  those  they 
occupied,  to  be  offered  for  sale;  thus  it  was  inevitable  that 
anxiety  concerning  the  right  of  preemption  should  increase 
as  the  settlement  of  claims  neared  completion,  and  con- 
temporaries record  that  the  inability  to  secure  land  titles 
seriously  retarded  settlement;3  now,  however,  the  granting 
of  the  right  of  preemption,  before  any  public  lands  in 
Illinois  were  offered  for  sale,  ended  the  long  suspense  of 
the  settlers.  Years  before  this,  Kentucky,  now  selling  its 
public  lands  at  twenty  cents  per  acre,  had  passed  liberal 
preemption  laws,  and  they  were  repeatedly  renewed,4  facts 
which  increased  the  anxiety  of  Illinois. 

1.  "State  Papers,"  15th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,IIL,  No.  61,  p.  6;  Poore,  "Char- 
ters and  Constitutions,"  Pt.  I.,  436,  438,  445;  "Statutes  at  Large,"  III.,  318. 

2.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  797. 

3.  Reynolds,  "Illinois— My  Own  Times,"  156. 

4.  Littell,  "Laws  of  Ky.,"  I.,  430;  "Acts  of  1811"  (Ky.),  213-15;  "Acts 
of  1816"  (Ky.),  107;  "Acts  of  1817"  (Ky.),  326. 


TERRITORIAL   PERIOD.  103 

Year  after  year  the  settlement  of  land  claims  dragged 
on,  thus  delaying  the  sales  of  land.1  In  an  official  report 
of  December,  181  3,  it  is  stated  that:  "In  the  Territory  of 
Illinois,  two  land-offices  are  directed  by  law  to  be  opened; 
one  at  Kaskaskia,  the  other  at  Shawneetown,  so  soon  as  the 
private  claims  and  donations  are  all  located,  and  the  lands 
surveyed,  which  are  in  great  forwardness."2  A  tract  of 
land  was  set  apart  in  April,  18 14,  to  satisfy  the  claims 
recommended  by  the  commissioners  for  confirmation.3  A 
report  of  November,  18 15,  said  that  the  commissioners 
hoped  to  open  the  land- office  at  Kaskaskia  on  May  15, 
18 16;  and  finally,  in  a  report  on  the  public  lands  sold  from 
October  1,  1815,  to  September  30,  1816,  we  find  that  about 
thirty- four  thousand  acres  have  been  sold  at  Shawneetown 
and  somewhat  less  than  thirteen  thousand  acres  at  Kas- 
kaskia, the  price  at  the  latter  place  being  precisely  the 
two  dollars  per  acre  which  was  then  the  minimum,  while 
that  at  Shawneetown  was  slightly  higher,4  presumably  due 
to  the  sale  of  town  lots,  which  had  been  authorized  in 
1810,  although  no  sales  took  place  earlier  than  1814.5 

The  long  delay  in  opening  the  land-offices  in  Illinois 
was  fatal  to  an  early  settlement  of  the  region,  because  the 
old  states  had  public  lands  which  they  offered  for  sale  at 
low  rates,  thus  depriving  Illinois  of  a  fair  chance  as  a 
competitor.  In  1779  Kentucky  granted  to  each  family 
which  had  settled  before  January  1,  1778,  the  right  of 
preemption  —  four  hundred  acres  if  no  improvement  had 
been  made  and  one  thousand  acres  if  a  hut  had  been 
built.     The  preemptor,  by  a  law  of  17S6,  was  to  pay  13s. 

1.  "Pub.  Lands,"  III.,  2. 

2.  Ibid.,  II.,  873-4. 

3.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  III.,  125. 

4.  "State  Papers,"  II.,  14th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  folio.  Other  volumes  of  the 
same  number  and  session  are  quarto. 

5.  "Statutes  at  Large, "  II.,  591 ;  III.,  113;   "Pub.  Lands,"  II.,  873-4. 


104  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

/\d.  per  one  hundred  acres.1  In  1 781  the  sheriffs  of  Lincoln, 
Fayette,  and  Jefferson  counties, Virginia,  were  authorized  to 
survey  not  more  than  four  hundred  acres  for  each  poor 
family  in  Kentucky,  for  which-  twenty  shillings  per  one 
hundred  acres  should  be  paid  within  two  and  one -half 
years.2  In  1 791  more  than  three  and  one-half  millions  of 
acres  were  sold  in  New  York  at  eight  pence  per  acre,  while 
many  thousands  of  acres  in  addition  were  sold  for  less 
than  four  shillings  per  acre  —  many  for  less  than  two 
shillings.3  Pennsylvania  offered  homestead  claims,  in  1702. 
at  seven  pounds  ten  shillings  per  hundred  acres.4 

In  December,  1796,  Kentucky  sheriffs  were  ordered  to 
sell  no  more  land  for  taxes  until  directed  by  the  legislature 
to  do  so.5  In  1800,  and  again  in  18 12,  Kentucky  offered 
land  at  twenty  cents  per  acre,  and  in  1820  at  fifteen  cents 
per  acre,6  while  during  the  interval  preemption  acts  were 
repeatedly  passed.7  Land  in  Tennessee  sold  at  from  twelve 
and  one-half  to  twenty-five  cents  per  acre  in  1814,  and  in 
1 8 19  at  fifty  cents.8 

In  1 8 16  various  classes  of  claimants  were  given  increased 
facilities  and  an  extension  of  time  for  locating  their  claims 
in  Illinois.     The  business  of  satisfying  claims  was  to  linger 

1.  Littell,  "Laws  of  Ky.,"  I.,  395-7,  456. 

2.  Ibid.,  I.,  430. 

3.  O'Callaghan,  "Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,"  III.,  1069-S3,  quarto;  649-57,  folio. 

4.  Agnew,  "Settlement  and  Land  Titles  of  N.-W.  Pa.,"  1 18- 19.  See 
also  "Jour,  of  H.  of  R."  (Pa.),  1792 -1794,  first  page  of  second  appendix  to 
record  of  1st  Sess.  of  3d  House;  ibid.,  first  page  of  second  appendix  to  record 
of  1st  Sess.  of  4th  House;  Sergeant,  "View  of  the  Land  Laws  of  Pa.,  with 
Notices  of  Its  Early  Hist,  and  Legislation,"  passim. 

5.  Littell,  "Laws  of  Ky.,"  I.,  516. 

6.  Ibid.,  II.,  420-2  ;  "Actsof  1811"  (Ky.),  213-15  ;  "Acts  of  1817"  (Ky.), 
554;  "Actsof  1819"  (Ky.),  832. 

7.  "Acts  of  1816"  (Ky.),  107;   "Acts  of  1817"  (Ky.),  326. 

8.  Phelan,  "Hist,  of  Tenn.,"  303.  Quoted  from  Jones,  "The  Chickasaw 
Country  Lately  Ceded  to  the  U.  S."  (1819). 


WD/AN   CESSIONS 

/309-  I  GIG 


TERRITORIAL    PERIOD.  105 

for  years,  but  with  the  opening  of  the  land-offices  it  ceased 
to  be  a  potent  factor  in  retarding  settlement.1 

One  writer  says  of  Illinois:  "The  public  lands  have 
rarely  sold  for  more  than  five  dollars  per  acre,  at  auction. 
Those  sold  at  Edwardsville  in  October,  18 16,  averaged 
four  dollars.  Private  sales  at  the  land -office  are  fixed  by 
law,  at  two  dollars  per  acre.  The  old  French  locations 
command  various  prices,  from  one  to  fifty  dollars.  Titles 
derived  from  the  United  States  government  are  always 
valid,  and  those  from  individuals  rarely  false."  At  this 
time  emigrants  were  going  in  large  numbers  to  Missouri, 
and  the  Illinois  river  country,  not  yet  relieved  of  its  Indian 
title,  was  being  explored.7 

Reports  concerning  the  sales  of  public  lands  give  the 
quantity  of  land  sold  in  Illinois  toward  the  close  of  the 
territorial  period,  the  figures  for  18 17  and  18 18  being  as 
follows: 

, Total  balance  due  : , 

Acres  in  1817.     Acres  in  1818.      Jan.  1,  1818.  Sept.  30,  1818. 

Shawneetown,  72,384  216,315  $291,429  $  6$~,46S 
Kaskaskia,  90,493      121,052        209,295  406,288 

Edwardsville,5      149,165      121,923        301,701  451,49c/? 

.    '  312,042     459,290     $802,425      $1,495,255 

The  percentage  of  debt  showed  a  marked  increase  in  the 
first  nine  months  of  18 18.  There  were  received  in  three- 
quarters  of  18 1 7  and  1818,  respectively: 

1.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  III.,  307;  "Pub.  Lands,"  II.,  741;  III.,  1-5, 
384-5- 

2.  Brown,  "Western  Gazetteer,  or  Emigrants'  Directory"  (181 7),  53. 

3.  White,  "Descendants  of  John  Walker,"  45S-9,  461. 

4.  "State  Papers,"  No.  52,  15th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  IV.  Hundredths  of  acres 
and  cents  are  omitted  from  the  tables.  The  figures  for  Shawneetown  cover 
the  periods  from  Jan.  1  to  Sept.  30;  those  for  the  other  offices,  from  Ian.  1 
to  Aug.  31. 

5.  A  land-office  was  established  at  Edwardsville  by  an  act  of  Apr.  29,  1S16. 

9 


106  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

1817.  1818. 

At  Shawneetown $32,837         $1 12,759 

At  Kaskaskia 41,218  68,975 

At  Edwardsville 41,426  78,788 

During  this  same  period  the  receipts  at  Steubenville, 
Marietta,  and  Wooster,  Ohio,  decreased,1  showing  that 
Illinois  was  beginning  to  surpass  Ohio  as  an  objective 
point  for  emigrants  wishing  to  enter  land. 

The  Indian  question  was  interwoven  with  the  land 
question  during  the  territorial  period.  In  1809  the  Indians 
relinquished  their  claim  to  .some  small  tracts  of  land  lying 
near  the  point  where  the  Wabash  ceases  to  be  a  state 
boundary  line.2  No  more  cessions  were  made  until  after 
the  war  of  18 12.  Although  the  population  of  Illinois 
increased,  during  the  territorial  period,  from  some  eleven 
thousand  to  about  forty  thousand,  the  increase  before  the 
war  was  slight,  and  thus  it  came  about  that  during  the  war 
the  few  whites  were  kept  busy  defending  themselves  from 
the  large  and  hostile  Indian  population.  So  well  does  the 
manner  of  defence  in  Illinois  illustrate  the  frontier  char- 
acter of  the  region  that  a  sketch  of  the  same  may  be  given. 
When,  in  18 II,  the  Indians  became  hostile  and  murdered  a 
few  whites,  the  condition  of  the  settlers  was  precarious  in 
the  extreme.  Today  the  term  city  would  be  almost  a  favor 
to  a  place  containing  no  more  inhabitants  than  were  then  to 
be  found  in  the  white  settlements  in  Illinois.  Moreover, 
few  as  were  the  whites,  they  were  dispersed  in  a  long  half- 
oval  extending  from  a  point  on  the  Mississippi  near  the 
present  Alton  southward  to  the  Ohio,  and  thence  up  that 
river  and  the  Wabash  to  a  point  considerably  north  of 
Vincennes.     This  fringe  of  settlement  was  but  a  few  miles 

1.    "Pub.  Lands,"  III.,  405. 

2.-  "Indian  Aff. ,"  I.,  761-2;  iSth  An.  Kept,  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnol- 
ogy," Pt.  2,  678;  Nos.  73,  74,  Plate  CXXIV.     See  map  of  Indian  cessions. 


TERRITORIAL    PERIOD.  107 

wide  in  some  places,  while  so  sparse  was  the  population 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  that  the  communication 
between  northern  and  southern  Indians  was  unchecked. 
Carlyle  was  regarded  as  the  extreme  eastern  boundary  of 
settlements  to  the  westward;  a  fort  on  Muddy  River,  near 
where  the  old  Fort  Massac  trace  crossed  the  stream,  was 
considered  as  one  of  the  most  exposed  situations;  and 
Fort  La  Motte,  on  a  creek  of  the  same  name  above  Vin- 
cennes,  was  a  far  northern  point.  The  exposed  outside 
was  some  hundreds  of  miles  long,  and  the  interior  and 
north  were  occupied  by  ten  times  as  many  hostile  savages 
as  there  were  whites  in  the  country,  the  savages  being  given 
counsel  and  ammunition  by  the  British  garrisons  on  the 
north.1  Under  conditions  then  existing,  aid  from  the  United 
States  could  be  expected  only  in  the  event  of  dire  necessity. 
Stout  frontiersmen  were  almost  ready  to  seek  refuge  in 
flight,  but  no  general  exodus  took  place,  although  in  Feb- 
ruary, 18 1 2,  Governor  Edwards  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of 
War:  "The  alarms  and  apprehensions  of  the  people  are 
becoming  so  universal,  that  really  I  should  not  be  sur- 
prised if  we  should,  in  three  months,  lose  more  than  one- 
half  of  our  present  population.  In  places,  in  my  opinion, 
entirely  out  of  danger,  many  are  removing.  In  other 
parts,  large  settlements  are  about  to  be  totally  deserted. 
Even  in  my  own  neighborhood,  several  families  have 
removed,  and  others  are  preparing  to  do  so  in  a  week  or 
two.  A  few  days  past,  a  gentleman  of  respectability  arrived 
here  from  Kentucky,  and  he  informed  me  that  he  saw  on 
the  road,  in  one  day,  upwards  of  twenty  wagons  conveying 
families  out  of  this  Territory.  Every  effort  to  check  the 
prevalence  of  such  terror  seems  to  be  ineffectual,  and 
although  much  of  it  is  unreasonably  indulged,  yet  it  is  very 
certain  the  Territory  will  very  shortly  be   in  considerable 

1.   Reynolds,  "Illinois  —  My  Own  Times, "  81-4. 


108  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

danger.  Its  physical  force  is  very  inconsiderable,  and  is 
growing  weaker,  while  it  presents  numerous  points  of 
attack."1 

To  the  first  feeling  of  fear  succeeded  a  determination  to 
hold  the  ground.  Before  the  middle  of  1812,  Governor 
Edwards  had  established  Fort  Russell,  a  few  miles  north- 
west of  the  present  Edwardsville,  bringing  to  this  place, 
which  was  to  be  his  headquarters,  the  cannon  which  Louis 
XIV.  had  had  placed  in  Fort  Chartres;2  and  two  volunteer 
companies  had  been  raised,  and  had  "ranged  to  a  great 
distance — principally  between  the  Illinois  and  the  Kas- 
kaskia  rivers,  and  sometimes  between  the  Kaskaskia  and 
the  Wabash— always  keeping  their  line  of  march  never 
less  than  one  and  sometimes  three  days' journey  outside 
of  all  the  settlements"3 — which  incidentally  shows  what 
great  unoccupied  regions  still  existed  even  in  the  southern 
part  of  Illinois.  As  the  rangers  furnished  their  own  sup- 
plies, the  two  companies  went  out  alternately  for  periods  of 
fifteen  days.  Sometimes  the  company  on  duty  divided, 
one  part  marching  in  one  direction  and  the  other  in  the 
opposite,  in  order  to  produce  the  greatest  possible  effect 
upon  the  Indians.  Settlers  on  the  frontier — and  that 
comprised  a  large  proportion  of  the  population  —  "forted 
themselves,"  as  it  was  then  expressed.  Where  a  few 
families  lived  near  each  other,  one  of  the  most  substantial 
houses  was  fortified,  and  here  the  community  staid  at 
night,  and  in  case  of  imminent  danger  in  the  daytime  as 
well.  Isolated  outlying  families  left  their  homes  and 
retired  to  the  nearest  fort.  Such  places  of  refuge  were 
numerous  and  many  were  the  attacks  which  they  success- 
fully withstood. 

1.  Edwards,  "Hist,  of  111.  and  Life  of  Ninian  Edwards,"  301. 

2.  Reynolds,  "Illinois — My  Own  Times,"  S2. 

3.  Edwards,   "Hist,  of  111.  and  Life  of  Ninian  Edwards,"  329. 


TERRITORIAL    PERIOD.  1 09 

Rangers  and  frontier  forts  were  used  with  much  effect, 
but  the  great  dispersion  of  settlement  and  the  large  num- 
bers of  Indians  combined  to  make  it  wholly  impossible  to 
make  such  means  of  defence  entirely  adequate.  In  August, 
18 1 2,  the  Governor  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  War:  "The 
principal  settlements  of  this  Territory  being  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, are  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  those 
of  Indiana,  and  immense  prairies  intervene  between  them. 
There  can,  therefore,  be  no  concert  of  operations  for  the 
protection  of  their  frontiers  and  ours.  .  .  .  No  troops 
of  any  kind  have  yet  arrived  in  this  Territory,  and  I  think 
you  may  count  on  hearing  of  a  bloody  stroke  upon  us  very 
soon.  I  have  been  extremely  reluctant  to  send  my  family 
away,  but,  unless  I  hear  shortly  of  more  assistance  than  a 
few  rangers,  I  shall  bury  my  papers  in  the  ground,  send 
my  family  off,  and  stand  my  ground  as  long  as  possible."1 
The  "bloody  stroke"  predicted  by  the  Governor  fell  on  the 
garrison  at  Fort  Dearborn,  where  Chicago  now  stands. 
Some  regular  troops  were  subsequently  sent  to  the  terri- 
tory, but  the  war  did  not  lose  its  frontier  character.  One 
of  the  most  characteristic  features  was  that  troops  some- 
times set  out  on  a  campaign  of  considerable  length,  in  an 
uninhabited  region,  without  any  baggage  train  and  practi- 
cally without  pack  horses,  the  men  carrying  their  provisions 
on  their  horses,  and  the  horses  living  on  wild  grass.2 
Unflagging  energy  was  shown  by  the  settlers,  several 
effective  campaigns  being  carried  on,  and  by  the  close  of 
1814  the  war  was  closed  in  Illinois.3 

Extinction  of  Indian  titles  to  land  was  retarded  by  the 
war  and  also  by  the  policy  of  the  United  States,  which  was 
expressed  by  Secretary  of  War  Crawford,  in  18 16,  as  fol- 

1.  Edwards,  "Hist,  of  111.  and  Life  of  Ninian  Edwards,"  335. 

2.  Reynolds,  "Illinois — My  Own  Times,"  86- 7. 

3.  Ibid.,  102. 


110  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

lows:  "The  determination  to  purchase  land  only  when 
demanded  for  settlement  will  form  the  settled  policy  of 
the  Government.  Experience  has  sufficiently  proven  that 
our  population  will  spread  over  any  cession,  however 
extensive,  before  it  can  be  brought  into  market,  and  before 
there  is  any  regular  and  steady  demand  for  settlement, 
thereby  increasing  the  difficulty  of  protection,  embarrass- 
ing the  Government  by  broils  with  the  natives,  and 
rendering  the  execution  of  the  laws  regulating  intercourse 
with  the  Indian  tribes  utterly  impracticable."1  Some 
progress,  however,  was  made  in  extinguishing  Indian  titles 
during  the  territorial  period  after  the  close  of  the  war. 
In  1816,  several  tribes  confirmed  the  cession  of  1804  of 
land  lying  south  of  an  east  and  west  line  passing  through 
the  southern  point  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  ceded  a  route 
for  an  Illinois- Michigan  canal.2  At  Edwardsville,  on  Sep- 
tember 25,  1 8 18,  the  Peoria,  Kaskaskia,  Michigamia,  Caho- 
kia,  and  Tamarois  ceded  a  tract  comprising  most  of 
southern  and  much  of  central  Illinois.3  The  significance 
of  this  cession  would  have  been  immense  had  it  not  been 
that  it  was  made  by  weak  tribes,  while  the  powerful 
Kickapoo  still  claimed  and  held  all  that  part  of  the  ceded 
tract  lying  north  of  the  parallel  of  39° —  a  little  to  the 
north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  river.  This  Kickapoo 
claim  included  the  fertile  and  already  famous  Sangamon 
country,  in  which  the  state  capital  was  eventually  to  be 
located,  and  squatters  were  pressing  hard  upon  the  Indian 

1.  "Indian  Aff.,"  II.,  99. 

2.  "Indian  Aff.,"  II.,  95-6;  "18th  An.  Rept.  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology," 
Pt.  2,  680-3,  No.  77,  Plate  CXXV.,  and  No.  78,  Plate  CXXIV.  See  map 
of  Indian  cessions. 

3.  "Indian  Aff,"  II.,  167;  "iSth  An.  Rept.  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology," 
Pt.  2,  692-3  ;  No.  96a,  Plate  CXXIV.  See  also  No.  48  on  the  same  plate, 
and  No.  77,  Plate  CXXV.     See  map  of  Indian  cessions. 


TERRITORIAL   PERIOD.  I  I  I 

frontier,  yet  the  Indians  still  held  the  land  when  Illinois 
became  a  state. 

During  the  territorial  period,  Illinois  gained  the  long- 
sought  right  of  preemption;  the  French  claims  ceased  to 
retard  settlement;  some  progress  was  made  in  the  extinc- 
tion of  Indian  titles,  and  the  sale  of  public  land  was 
begun.  The  new  state  was  to  find  the  Indian  question  a 
pressing  one,  and  some  changes  in  the  land  system  were 
yet  desired,  but  the  crucial  point  was  passed. 


II. 
Territorial  Government  of   Illinois 

1809   TO    18 18. 

The  act  for  the  division  of  Indiana  Territory  provided 
that  Illinois,  during  the  first  stage  of  its  territorial  exist- 
ence, should  have  a  government  similar  to  that  of  the 
Northwest  Territory  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  In 
1809  there  were  in  Illinois  two  distinct  and  hostile  parties, 
which  had  been  formed  on  questions  arising  in  Indiana 
Territory  before  division.  It  was  with  sound  judgment, 
therefore,  that  the  President,  going  outside  of  Illinois, 
appointed  as  Governor,  Ninian  Edwards  of  Kentucky,  a 
native  of  Maryland,  who  successfully  resisted  all  efforts  to 
involve  him  in  party  quarrels.1 

Laws  for  the  government  of  the  territory  were  to  be 
chosen  by  the  Governor  and  the  judges  from  the  laws  of 
the  states.  The  judges  were  Jesse  B.  Thomas  and  William 
Sprigg,  natives  of  Maryland,  and  Alexander  Stuart,  a 
native  of  Virginia.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  of  the  twelve 
laws    chosen    before    the    meeting   of   the   first   territorial 

1.  "Territorial  Records  of  111.,"  ("Pub.  of  the  111.  Hist.  Lib.,"  No.  III.,  3, 
6,  7)- 


112  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

legislature,  five  were  from  Kentucky,  three  from  Georgia, 
two  from  Virginia,  one  from  South  Carolina,  and  one  from 
Pennsylvania.1  A  people  practically  southern  in  origin 
was  being  governed  by  officials  from  the  south  under 
southern  laws. 

Illinois  entered  the  second  grade  of  territorial  govern- 
ment in  1812,  electing  its  first  legislature  in  October.2  In 
the  preceding  May,  Congress  had  passed  an  act  making 
radical  and  most  important  extensions  in  the  suffrage  in 
Illinois,  over  that  which  had  been  prescribed  by  the  Ordi- 
nance of  1787.  The  new  provision  was:  "Every  free  white 
male  person  who  shall  have  attained  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years,  and  who  shall  have  paid  a  county  or  territorial 
tax,  and  who  shall  have  resided  one  year  in  said  Territory 
previous  to  any  general  election,  and  be  at  the  time  of 
any  such  election  a  resident  thereof,  shall  be  entitled  to 
vote  for  members  of  the  Legislative  Council  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  said  Territory."  Each  county  was 
to  elect  one  member  of  the  Legislative  Council,  to  serve 
for  four  years.  The  territorial  delegate  to  Congress  was 
also  made  elective  by  the  citizens.3  One  has  but  to  con- 
sider what  a  complete  revolution  this  act  brought  about  to 
appreciate  its  great  significance.  Previously  the  Legisla- 
tive Council  had  been  appointive  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  from  nominees  of  the  territorial  House  of 
Representatives,  the  nominees    being    twice    the    number 

1.  "Territorial  Records  of  111."  ("Pub.  of  the  111.  Hist.  Lib.,"  No.  III., 
10-19).  Of  the  thirty- eight  laws  selected  by  the  Governor  and  judges  in  the 
Northwest  Territory,  three  were  from  the  codes  of  southern  states ;  of  the 
fifteen  so  selected  in  Indiana  Territory,  thirteen  were  from  southern  codes  — 
"Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pamphlets,"  No.  I.,  16;  contained  in  Vol.  2  of  "Publica- 
tions. "     Illinois  was  thus  most  southern  of  the  three. 

2.  "Territorial  Records  of  111."  ("Pub.  of  the  111.  Hist.  Lib., "No.  III.,  23, 
26-7). 

3.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II.,  741-2. 


TERRITORIAL    PERIOD.  113 

necessary;  the  delegate  to  Congress  had  not  been  chosen 
by  popular  vote;  and  a  freehold  qualification  for  the 
elective  franchise  had  obtained.  Early  petitions  show  how 
much  the  people  complained  of  a  landed  aristocracy,1  and 
letters  written  by  Governor  Edwards  early  in  18 12  show  how 
well  founded  was  the  complaint.  No  preemption  act  had 
yet  been  passed,  and  of  the  more  than  twelve  thousand 
inhabitants  of  Illinois  some  two  hundred  and  twenty  pos- 
sessed a  freehold  of  fifty  acres,  thus  giving  the  balance  of 
power,  if  the  territory  should  enter  the  second  grade  under 
the  old  provision,  to  one  hundred  and  eleven  persons.  Nearly 
one- third  of  the  entire  population  lived  either  near  the 
Ohio  or  between  it  and  the  Kaskaskia,  and  among  them 
there  were  not  more  than  three  or  four  freeholders,  and  not 
one  who  possessed  two  hundred  acres  —  the  necessary 
qualification  for  a  representative.  With  no  public  lands 
yet  offered  for  sale,  with  no  right  of  preemption,  with  a 
freehold  qualification  for  the  suffrage,  this  law  enfranchising 
squatters  was  of  prime  importance.2 

The  first  legislature  had  few   French  members,  and  was 
apparently  southern   in   nativity.3     After  more  than  three 

1.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  461-70. 

2.  Edwards,  "Hist,  of  111.  and  Life  of  Ninian  Edwards,"  296,  306. 

3.  "Territorial  Records  of  111."  ("Pub.  of  111.  Hist.  Lib.,"  No.  III.,  62,  S6). 
Legislative  Council.     Nativity.         County.  Territorial  Judges. 
Pierre  Menard,      Canada,    Randolph.    Jesse  B.  Thomas,  Maryland. 

Alexander  Stuart,  Virginia. 

William  Sprigg,  Maryland. 

Territorial  Secretaries. 
Nathaniel  Pope,  Kentucky. 

Joseph  Philips,  Tennessee. 

Delegates  in  Congress.  Term. 

Shadrach  Bond,  Md,  Dec.  3, 1812-14. 
Benj.  Stephenson,  Ky,  Nov  14  1S14-16. 
Nathan'l  Pope,    Ky,  Dec.  2,  1S16-18. 

Governor. 
Ninian  Edwards,  Md.,        1809- 181 8. 
Officers  other  than  members  are  added  to  the  above  in  order  to  emphasize 
the  southern  origin  of  Illinois  territorial  officials.     New  England  was  not  yet 
a  factor  in  Illinois  politics. 


Wm.  Biggs,            Md. 

St.  Clair. 

Sam'l  Judy,  Swiss  or  Md. 

Madison. 

Thos.  Ferguson, 

Johnson. 

Benjamin  Talbott, 

Gallatin. 

House  of  Reps. 

Dr.  George  Fisher,  Va., 

Randolph. 

Rev.  Joshua  Oglesby, 

St.  Clair. 

Jacob  Short, 

St.  Clair. 

Rev.  Wm.  Jones    N.  C, 

Madison. 

Philip  Trammel], 

Gallatin. 

Alex.  Wilson,         Va., 

Gallatin. 

John  Grammar, 

Johnson. 

I  14  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

years  and  a  half  of  legislation  by  the  Governor  and  judges, 
the  inhabitants  at  last  had  an  elective  legislature.  The 
journals  of  the  two  houses  indicate  that  the  belief  that 
had  been  expressed  in  petitions  to  Congress  some  years 
before  that  such  a  body  would  provide  an  efficient  govern- 
ment, was  well  founded.  The  laws  passed  were  eminently 
practical  for  the  frontier  conditions  under  which  they  were 
to  operate.1  A  man  contemplating  settlement  in  Illinois 
could  now  be  sure  that  he  would  be  governed  by  Illinois 
men  whom  he  had  a  share  in  electing. 

The  rude  character  of  the  facilities  for  transportation  is 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  earlier  laws  of  the  territory 
deal  with  ferries  only  rarely  and  with  bridges  not  at  all, 
while  as  time  progresses  and  population  increases,  ferries 
multiply  and  bridges  begin  to  be  constructed.  By  1817-18 
the  desire  for  banks  and  for  internal  improvements,  which 
was  to  be  disastrous  to  the  state  at  a  later  period,  began 
to  show  itself.  As  examples,  the  Bank  of  Cairo  and  the 
Illinois  Navigation  Company  will  suffice.  Nine  men  pur- 
chased the  low  peninsula  lying  near  the  junction  of  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  and  were  incorporated  by  "An 
Act  to  Incorporate  the  City  and  Bank  of  Cairo."  A  site 
for  a  city  comprising  at  least  two  thousand  lots,  with 
streets  eighty  feet  wide,  was  to  be  laid  out.  The  lots 
were  to  be  sold  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  each  and 
were  to  be  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  by  sixty- 
six  feet  in  size.  Of  the  purchase  money,  two -thirds 
should  go  into  the  stock  of  the  Bank  of  Cairo,  and  one- 
third  to  a  fund  to  build  dykes  to  keep  the  city  from  being 
flooded.2  Considering  the  time  and  the  location,  the 
scheme    was   utterly  impracticable      "An   Act  to   Incor- 

1.  " Territorial  Records  of  Illinois"  ('' Pub.  of  the  111.  Hist.  Lib.,''  No.  III., 
62-170). 

2.  "Laws  of  111.  Ter.,  1S17-1S,''  pp.  72-82  ;  Ibid.,  1S15-16,  p.  44. 


TERRITORIAL   PERIOD.  I  I  5 

porate  the  Stockholders  of  the  Illinois  Navigation  Com- 
pany" authorized  the  formation  of  a  company  with  a 
capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  for  the  purpose 
of  cutting  a  canal  through  the  peninsula  between  the  Ohio 
and  the  Mississippi.  Within  twelve  years  a  canal  suffi- 
ciently large  for  the  passage  of  a  vessel  of  twenty  tons 
burden  should  be  completed.  The  company  was  given 
the  right  of  eminent  domain.1  Here  again  the  character 
of  the  project  was  unsuited  to  existing  conditions.  Popu- 
lation was  increasing  rapidly  at  the  time  these  laws  were 
passed,  but  they  required  for  their  success  an  increase 
much  more  rapid.  They  were,  however,  pleasing  to  the 
settlers  and  the  prospective  settlers  of  the  day. 

On  January  16,  18 18,  Mr.  Pope,  of  Illinois,  was  appointed 
chairman  of  a  select  committee  to  consider  a  petition 
from  the  Illinois  legislature  praying  for  a  state  govern- 
ment. One  week  later  the  committee  reported  a  bill  to 
enable  Illinois  to  form  such  a  government,  and  to  admit 
the  state  into  the  union.  When  the  enabling  act  came  up 
for  discussion,  Mr.  Pope  offered  the  amendment  which 
changed  the  northern  boundary  of  Illinois  from  a  line  due 
west  from  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan,  as 
provided  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  to  a  line  running  from 
that  lake  to  the  Mississippi  on  the  parallel  of  42"  30'. 
"The  object  of  this  amendment,  Mr.  Pope  said,  was  to 
gain,  for  the  proposed  state,  a  coast  on  Lake  Michigan. 
This  would  offer  additional  security  to  the  perpetuity  of 
the  union,  inasmuch  as  the  state  would  thereby  be  con- 
nected with  the  states  of  Indiana,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and 
New  York,  through  the  lakes.  The  facility  of  opening  a 
canal  between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Illinois  River,  said 
Mr.  Pope,  is  acknowledged  by  every  one  who  has  visited 
the  place.    Giving  to  the  proposed  state  the  port  of  Chicago 

1.    "Laws  of  111.  Ter.,  1  Si  7- 18,  "pp.  57-64. 


Il6  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

(embraced  in  the  proposed  limits),  will  draw  its  attention 
to  the  opening  of  the  communication  between  the  Illinois 
River  and  that  place,  and  the  improvement  of  that  harbor. 
It  was  believed,  he  said,  upon  good  authority,  that  the  line 
of  separation  between  Indiana  and  Illinois  would  strike 
Lake  Michigan  south  of  Chicago,  and  not  pass  west  of  it, 
as  had  been  supposed  by  some  geographers  .  .  .  ." 
Although  an  avowed  violation  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787, 
the  amendment  was  adopted  without  division  or  recorded 
debate.  Mr.  Pope  also  secured  an  amendment  to  the 
effect  that  the  state's  proportion  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales  of  public  lands,  instead  of  being  applied  to  the 
making  of  roads  and  canals  in  the  state,  should  be  used 
in  making  roads  leading  to  the  state,  and  for  the  encour- 
agement of  learning,  two- fifths  being  applied  to  the 
former  purpose.  Pope  pointed  out  that  people  would 
build  roads  as  they  needed  them,  much  more  readily  than 
they  would  supply  schools,  and  that  waste  school  lands  in 
a  new  country  would  produce  slight  revenue.  Subsequent 
history  of  the  state  justified  both  statements.  The  enabling 
act  met  with  little  opposition  and  was  signed  by  President 
Monroe  on  April  18,  18 18.1 

One  of  the  provisions  of  the  enabling  act  was  that,  in 
order  to  become  a  state,  Illinois  must  have  as  many  as 
forty  thousand  inhabitants.  In  anticipation  of  such  a 
provision,  the  territorial  legislature  had  passed  a  law  in 
January,  1818,  providing  that  a  census  of  the  territory 
should  be  taken  between  April  1  and  June  1.  A  supple- 
mental act  provided  that  as  a  great  increase  in  population 
might  be  expected  between  June  1  and  December,  census 
takers  should  continue  to  take  the  census  in  their  districts 

1.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  15th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  1677,  1738;  "H.  J.,"  15th 
Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  151,  174;  Benton,  "Abridgment  of  Debates  in  Cong.,"  VI., 
173;  "Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  XL,  494-501. 


TERRITORIAL    PERIOD.  117 

of  all  who  should  remove  into  them  between  June  1  and 
December  1.  The  law  as  framed  gave  an  opportunity 
to  count  not  only  immigrants,  but  to  re-count  all  who 
moved  from  one  county  to  another  (such  moving  being 
common),  and  to  count  in  each  successive  county  persons 
passing  through  the  state.  There  is  no  reasonable  doubt 
that  at  the  time  the  census  was  taken,  the  territory  had 
fewer  than  forty  thousand  inhabitants.  Dana  gives  a 
census  of  18 18,  in  which  the  number  is  given  as  thirty- 
four  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-six,  and  adds: 
"Another  enumeration  having  been  taken  a  few  months 
after,  the  amount  of  population  returned  was  forty  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  fifty-six,  which  exceeded  the 
number  entitling  the  territory  to  become  a  state."1 

In  August,  1818,  the  Constitution  of  Illinois  was  com- 
pleted. Its  provisions  most  likely  to  influence  settlement 
were  those  concerning  the  elective  franchise  and  slaver}'. 
It  provided  that  "In  all  elections,  all  white  male  inhabitants 
above  the  age  of  twenty- one  years,  having  resided  in  the 
state  six  months  next  preceding  the  election,  shall  enjoy 
the  right  of  an  elector;  but  no  person  shall  be  entitled  to 
vote  except  in  the  county  or  district  in  which  he  shall 
actually  reside  at  the  time  of  the  election."  Slaves  could 
not  hereafter  be  brought  into  the  state,  but  existing  slavery 
was  not  abolished,  and  existing  indentures  —  and  some 
were  for  ninety-  nine  years — should  be  carried  out,  although 
future  indentures  should  not  run  for  a  longer  term  than 
one  year.  Male  children  of  slaves  or  indentured  servants 
should  be  free  at  the  age  of  twenty- one,  and  females  at 
eighteen.  Slaves  from  other  states  could  be  employed  only 
at  the  Saline  Creek  salt  works,  and  there  only  until  1825.2 

1.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  III.,  42S;  "Laws  of  111.  Ter.,"  1S17-  iS,  pp.  42-5  ; 
Dana,  "Sketches  of  Western  Country,''  1S19,  153;  "Xiles'  Register, "  XIV., 
359  (July  !§>  1818);  Babcock,  "Memoir  of  John  Mason  Peck,"  99. 

2.  Poore,  "Charters  and  Constitutions,"  Pt.  I.,  442,  445.      Of  the  members 


Il8  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

During  the  congressional  debate  on  the  acceptance  of  the 
Illinois  Constitution,  objection  to  admitting  the  state  was 
made  on  the  ground  that  the  number  of  inhabitants  was 
doubtful,  and  that  slavery  was  not  distinctly  prohibited, 
Tallmadge,  of  New  York,  who  later  wished  to  restrict 
slavery  in  Missouri,  being  the  chief  objector.  The  state 
was  admitted,  however,  and  on  December  4,  18 18,  the  rep- 
resentatives and  senators  from  Illinois  took  their  seats  in 
Congress.1 

Between  1809  and  18 18,  Illinois  passed  from  a  non- 
representative  territorial  government  to  a  liberal  state 
government.  The  energy  of  the  settlers  had  done  much 
to  hasten  the  change,  and  the  change,  in  turn,  did  much 
to  hasten  settlement. 


IV. 

Transportation  and  Settlement, 

1809   TO    1818. 

AT  the  close  of  the  War  of  18 12,  an  unparalleled  emigra- 
-^j-  tion  to  the  frontiers  of  the  United  States  began.  Con- 
temporary accounts  speak  of  its  great  volume.  "Through 
New  York  and  down  the  Alleghany  River  is  now  the  track 
of  many  emigrants  from  the  east  to  the  west.  Two 
hundred  and  sixty  waggons  have  passed  a  certain  house 
on  this  route  in  nine  days,  besides  many  persons  on 
horseback   and    on    foot.     The    editor   of   the    Gennessee 

of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  Illinois  whose  nativity  has  been  learned, 
ten  were  natives  of  the  South,  two  were  natives  of  Illinois  born  of  southern 
parents,  two  were  Irishmen  from  the  South,  and  five  were  natives  of  the 
North.  New  England  was  represented  by  one  man,  John  Messinger,  a  son- 
in-law  of  Matthew  Lyon. 

1.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  15th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  38,  305-11 ;  "Statutes  at 
Large,"  III.,  536. 


TRANSPORTATION    AND    SETTLEMENT.  I  19 

Farmer  observes,  that  he  himself  met  on  the  road  to 
Hamilton  a  cavalcade  of  upwards  of  twenty  waggons, 
containing  one  company  of  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
persons,  on  their  way  to  Indiana,  and  all  from  one  town  in 
the  district  of  Maine.  So  great  is  the  emigration  to 
Illinois  and  Missouri  also,  that  it  is  apprehended  that 
many  must  suffer  for  want  of  provisions  the  ensuing 
winter."1  "Nothing  more  strongly  proves  the  superiority 
of  the  western  territory  than  the  vast  emigration  to  it 
from  the  eastern  and  southern  states;  during  the  eighteen 
months  previous  to  April,  1S16,  fifteen  thousand  waggons 
passed  over  the  bridge  at  Cayuga,  containing  emigrants  to 
the  western  country."2  "Old  America  seems  to  be  break- 
ing up,  and  moving  westward.  .  .  .  The  number  of 
emigrants  who  passed  this  way  [St.  Clairsville,  Ohio],  was 
greater  last  year  than  in  any  preceding;  and  the  present 
spring  they  are  still  more  numerous  than  the  last.  Fourteen 
waggons  yesterday,  and  thirteen  today,  have  gone  through 
this  town.  Myriads  take  their  course  down  the  Ohio.  The 
waggons  swarm  with  children.  I  heard  today  of  three 
together,  which  contain  forty-two  of  these  young  citizens."3 
From  Hamilton,  New  York:  "It  is  estimated,  that  there 
are  now  in  this  village  and  its  vicinity,  three  hundred 
families,  besides  single  travellers,  amounting  in  all  to  fifteen 
hundred  souls,  waiting  for  a  rise  of  water  to  embark  for 
'the  promised  land.'  "4  "The  numerous  companies  of  emi- 
grants that  flock  to  this  country,  might  appear,  to  those 
who  have  not  witnessed  them,  almost  incredible.  But 
there  is  scarce  a  day,  except  when  the  river  is  impeded 
with  ice,  but  what  there   is   a  greater   or   less  number  of 

1.  "Niles'  Register,"  XIII.,  1S17,  224. 

2.  Kingdom,  "America  and  the  British  Colonies,"  1816,  17. 

3.  Birkbeck,  "Journey  from  Va.  to  111.,"  1817,  25,  29. 

4.  Wright,  "Letters  from  the  West,  or,  A  Caution  to  Emigrants,"  1818,  1. 


120  SETTLEMENT   OE   ILLINOIS. 

boats  to  be  seen  floating  down  its  gentle  current,  to  some 
place  of  destination.  No  less  than  five  hundred  families 
stopped  at  Cincinnati  at  one  time,  and  many  of  them 
having  come  a  great  distance,  and  being  of  the  poorer  class 
of  people,  before  they  could  provide  for  themselves,  were 
in  a  suffering  condition;  but  to  the  honor  of  the  citizens  of 
Cincinnati,  they  raised  a  donation  and  relieved  their  dis- 
tress."1 Of  the  remote  districts,  Missouri  and  Michigan 
were  receiving  crowds  of  immigrants.2 

The  changes  in  government  and  in  the  land  question  in 
Illinois  were  typical  of  changes  in  other  frontier  regions, 
but  although  worthy  of  note  as  helping  to  make  a  more 
attractive  place  for  settlement,  they  are  by  no  means 
sufficient  to  account  for  the  great  migration  to  the  west- 
ward. Why  that  migration  took  place  and  how  it  was 
accomplished  are  interesting  and  important  questions. 

Emigration  from  New  England  resulted  largely  from 
financial  and  industrial  disorganization  caused  by  the  close 
of  the  war,  and  a  year  of  such  continued  cold  weather  as 
to  produce  a  famine.  This  movement  was  interesting, 
dramatic,  and  large  in  volume,  but  its  influence  upon 
Illinois  was  slight,  because  the  tide  was  stayed  to  the  east- 
ward of  that  state.3  Migration  from  the  South  was  also 
large,  and  it  was  from  this  source  that  most  of  the  immi- 

i.    Harding,  "Tour  through  the  Western  Country,"  1818-19,  5. 

2.  "Am.  Mag.  and  Review,"'  III.,  1S1S,  152;  I.,  1S17,  473. 

3.  Goodrich,  "Recollections  of  a  Life  Time,"  II.,  7S  ff. ;  Birkbeck,  "Jour- 
ney from  Va.  to  111.,"  1817,  25;  "  Va.  Patriot,"  Sept.  7,  21,  1S16;  Varney, 
"A  Brief  Hist,  of  Me.,"  239;  Abbott,  "Hist,  of  Me.,"  424;  Williamson, 
"Hist,  of  Me.,"  II.,  664-6;  Sanborn,  "Hist,  of  N.  H,"  265;  Whitoo, 
"Hist,  of  N.  H.,"  1S8;  Barstow,  "Hist,  of  N.  H.,"  392;  Thompson, 
"Hist,  of  the  State  of  Vt.,"  1S33,  222  ;  same,  1S53,  Pt.  I.,  20;  Hoskins,  "  Hist, 
of  the  State  of  Vt.,"  232;  Wilbur,  "Early  Hist,  of  Vt.,"  III.,  162-3;  Heaton, 
"Story  of  Vt.,"  136;  Beckley,  "Hist,  of  Vt.,"  171-2;  "Gov.  and  Council- 
Vt.,"  VI.,  429-31- 


TRANSPORTATION    AND    SETTLEMENT.  121 

grants  to  Illinois  came.  In  1816  there  was  a  severe  drought 
in  eastern  North  Carolina,  and  many  planters  cut  their 
immature  corn  for  their  cattle,  while  great  numbers  sold 
their  property  and  joined  the  emigrants.1  Kentucky,  still 
a  favorite  place  for  settlement,  was  in  the  midst  of  a  land 
boom  which  reached  such  proportions  as  to  cause  a  large 
volume  of  emigration  to  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  the  south- 
west. The  buyer  of  Kentucky  land  was  often  a  neighbor 
who  wished  to  enlarge  his  farm  and  work  on  a  larger 
scale,  or  some  well-to-do  immigrant  who  preferred  the 
location  to  a  more  remote  region.  Land  sold  on  credit 
and  at  fictitious  prices,  the  seller  in  turn  buying  land  for 
which  he  frequently  could  make  only  the  first  payment. 
Retribution  did  not  come,  however,  until  after  1820,  and 
for  some  years  it  seemed  as  if  Kentucky  was  to  become  a 
source  of  population,  for  it  was  to  Illinois  and  Missouri, 
and  to  a  lesser  degree  to  Alabama,  what  New  England 
was  to  Ohio.2  Probably  chief  among  the  reasons  for 
migration  from  the  South  was  the  increase  of  slavery,  with 
the  resulting  changes  in  industrial  and  social  conditions. 
Early  in  the  century  the  growing  importance  of  the  cotton 
crop  began  to  hasten  a  stratification  of  opinion  which 
was  determined  by  physiographic  areas.  The  western 
parts  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina,  the 
northern  part  of  Georgia,  and  the  eastern  parts  of  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee,  respectively,  being  hilly  and  less  fertile 
than  the  coastal  plain,  became  the  center  of  the  southern 
anti-slavery  sentiment.  On  the  plain  settled  the  wealthy 
planters,  and  later  the  poorer  Germans  and  Quakers  settled 
in  the  uplands.  Only  when  cotton -raising  became  very 
profitable  was  slavery  to  intrude  upon  the  latter  location.3 

1.    "Va.  Patriot,"  Sept.  II,  1816. 

2    White,  "Descendants  of  John  Walker,"  425,  453,  461. 

3.  Bassett,"Anti-SIavery  Leaders  of  N.C."(  J.  H.  U.  Studies,  XVI. ,  267-71). 
IO 


122  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

During  the  war  the  production  of  cotton  in  the  United 
States  had  been  almost  constant  in  amount  and  less  than 
in  preceding  years,  but  1815  saw  an  increase  of  over  forty- 
two  per  cent  and  18 16  an  increase  of  twenty- four  per 
cent,1  while  in  the  latter  year  South  Carolina,  after  an 
interval  of  thirteen  years,  resumed  its  slavery  legislation 
by  passing  the  first  of  a  series  of  acts  which  show  that  the 
slavery  problem  was  becoming  increasingly  difficult.  Sim- 
ilar legislation  took  place  in  Tennessee,  and  to  a  lesser 
degree  in  Kentucky.2  Increased  production  of  cotton  was 
accompanied  by  an  increase  in  price,  middling  upland 
cotton  selling  at  New  York  at  15  cents  per  pound  in  18 14, 
at  21  cents  in  181 5,  at  29^  cents  in  18 16,  at  26^  cents  in 
1817,  and  at  34  cents  in  18 18,  while  South  Carolina  sea- 
island  cotton  sold  at  Charleston  in  1816  at  55  cents  a 
pound.3  An  increase  in  cotton  production  meant  an  increase 
of  the  plantation  system  with  its  slaves,  this  meant  an 
increased  demand  for  large  farms,  and  also  a  strengthening 
of  the  antagonism  between  pro -slavery  and  anti -slavery 
parties.  Even  in  18 12,  a  man  who  wished  to  sell,  lease,  or 
rent  his  manufacturing  establishment  in  the  northwestern 
part  of  Virginia,  Frederick  county,  lamented  in  his  adver- 
tisement that  "some  good  men  of  strict  moral  or  religious 
principles  should  object  against  forming  settled  abodes  in 

1.  De  Bow,  "Industrial  Resources  of  the  U.  S.,"  I.,  122-3.  Millions  of 
pounds  of  cotton  raised  in  the  U.S.: 

1808,  75.  1812,    75.  1816,    124.  1820,  160.  T    r  I  181 1,   20. 

1809,  82.  1813,    75.  1817,  130.  1821,  180.  n     a'  \  1821,  45- 

1810,  85.  1814,    70.  1S1S,   125.  1822,  210.  (  jgu 

181 1,  80.  1815,100.  1819,167.  In  Tenn-  |  1821J  20! 

2.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  S.  C,  VII,,  451-66;  "Laws  of  Tenn.,  revision 
of  i83i,"L,  314-30;  "Acts  of  1S1S,"  Ky.,623,  787;  "Acts  of  1815,"  Ky., 
Feb.  8,  181 5. 

3.  J.  L.  Watkins,  in  "U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agric,  Div.  of  Statistics,  Misc. 
Ser.,  Bulletin  No.  9,"  p.  8. 


TRANSPORTATION   AND   SETTLEMENT.  1 23 

Virginia"  or  other  slave  states.1  Census  reports  show  that 
the  proportion  of  negroes  to  whites  increased  in  the 
western  counties  of  North  Carolina  during  the  decade 
1810  to  1820  over  the  proportion  in  1800  to  1810.  Con- 
ditions above  described  naturally  led  to  the  emigration  of 
at  least  four  classes  of  people:  those  who  were  anti- 
slavery,  those  who  did  not  wish  to  change  from  small 
farming  to  the  plantation  system,  the  poor  whites  who 
found  themselves  increasingly  disgraced  and  who  at  the 
same  time  found  that  their  land  was  in  demand,  the  slave- 
holder who  wished  a  large  tract  of  virgin  soil.  It  is  very 
important  to  note  that  these  forces  were  merely  beginning 
to  operate  in  the  time  from  18 14  to  1818,  and  that  they 
did  not  reach  their  maximum  of  influence  until  after  1830, 
yet  as  the  population  of  Illinois  increased  less  than  twenty- 
eight  thousand  from  18 10  to  18 18,  it  is  altogether  probable 
that  a  considerable  proportion  were  influenced  by  the 
causes  suggested.  It  is  also  true  that  some  pioneers 
moved  merely  from  habit,  without  any  well-defined  cause. 
Although  it  is  true  that  the  first  steamboat  that  passed 
down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  made  its  trip  in  the  winter 
of  1811-12,  and  by  1816  an  enterprising  captain  had  made 
a  successful  experiment  of  running  a  steamboat  with  coal  for 
fuel,  also  that  the  speed  of  steamboats  in  eastern  waters  was 
a  matter  for  enthusiastic  comment,  yet  it  is  also  true  that 
immigrants  to  Illinois  did  not  usually  arrive  by  steamer.2 
The  development  of  steamboat  navigation  in  western 
waters  was  slow,  the  first  steamboat  reaching  St.  Louis  on 
August  2,  18 17.3  Peter  Cartwright  wrote  of  his  trip  from 
the  West  to  the  General  Conference  in  Baltimore,  in  1816: 
"We   had    no   steamboats,  railroad    cars,  or   comfortable 

1.  "National  Intelligencer,"  Washington,  D.  C,  Apr.  18,  1812. 

2.  "Rambler  in  N.  A.,"  I.,  104- 11 ;  "Am.  Register,"  II.,  1817,  202-3. 

3.  "Memoir  of  John  Mason  Feck,"  81. 


124  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

stages  in  those  days.  We  had  to  travel  from  the  extreme 
West  on  horseback.  It  generally  took  us  near  a  month  to 
go;  a  month  was  spent  at  General  Conference,  and  nearly 
a  month  in  returning  to  our  fields  of  labor."1 

Some  instances  of  the  manner  and  cost  of  emigration 
may  be  given.  A  man  with  his  wife  and  brother  having 
arrived  at  Philadelphia  from  England,  en  route  to  Birk- 
beck's  settlement2  in  Illinois,  the  party  was  directed  to 
Pittsburg,  which  they  reached  after  a  wearisome  journey 
of  over  three  hundred  miles  across  the  mountains.  At 
Pittsburg  they  bought  a  little  boat  for  six  or  seven  dollars, 
and  came  down  the  Ohio  to  Shawneetown,  whence  they 
proceeded  on  foot.3  In  the  summer  of  1818,  a  party  of 
eighty- eight  came  over  the  same  route  in  much  the  same 
manner,  using  fiat-boats  on  the  river.4  In  1817,  John 
Mason  Peck,  with  his  wife  and  three  children,  went  from 
Litchfield,  Connecticut,  to  Shawneetown,  Illinois,  in  a  one- 
horse  wagon.  The  journey  was  begun  on  July  25  and 
Shawneetown  was  reached  on  the  sixth  of  November. 
"Nearly  one  month  was  occupied  in  passing  from  Philadel- 
phia through  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  over  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  till  on  the  10th  of  September  he  passed  into 
Ohio.  Three  weeks  he  journeyed  in  that  State,  and  on 
the  23d  of  October  recrossed  the  Ohio  River  into  the  State 
of   Kentucky     .     .     .     ,    and    on    the   6th  of  November 

1.  "Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartwright,"  156. 

2.  Morris  Birkbeck  and  George  Flower,  from  England,  founded  in  181 7,  in 
Edwards  County,  Illinois,  what  was  the  most  famous  of  the  English  settle- 
ments in  Illinois.  Birkbeck  was  an  educated  man  and  his  writings  are  among 
the  important  sources  for  the  early  history  of  Illinois.  He  was  at  one  time 
Secretary  of  State  of  Illinois.  George  Flower  became  the  historian  of  the 
settlement. 

3.  Birkbeck,  "Letters  from  111.,"  56. 

4.  Flower,  "Hist,  of  the  Eng.  Settlement  in  Edwards  Co.,  111.,"  "Chicago 
Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  I.,  95-99. 


TRANSPORTATION    AND    SETTLEMENT.  1 25 

again  crossed  the  Ohio  River,  into  the  then  Territory  of 
Illinois,  at  Shawneetown."1  Here  the  family  was  delayed 
by  floods  which  rendered  the  roads  impassable.  Leaving 
the  horse  and  wagon  at  Shawneetown  to  be  brought  on  by 
a  friend,  they  proceeded  to  St.  Louis  in  a  keel-boat,  paying 
twenty-five  dollars  fare,  and  arrived  at  their  destination 
on  the  first  of  December.2 

Shawneetown  was  a  sort  of  center  from  which  emigrants 
radiated  to  their  destinations.  It  owed  much  to  its  loca- 
tion, being  on  the  main  route  from  the  southern  states  to 
St.  Louis  and  what  was  then  called  the  Missouri,  and  being 
also  the  port  for  the  salt  works  on  Saline  Creek.  It  was 
the  seat  of  a  land- office.  The  town  thus  had  a  business 
which  was  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  number  of  its  per- 
manent inhabitants.  In  1817  it  consisted  of  but  about 
thirty  log  houses,  a  log  bank,  and  a  land-office.  When  a 
certain  traveler  came  to  the  place  from  the  South,  in  1818, 
he  found  the  number  of  wagons,  horses,  and  passengers 
waiting  to  cross  the  Ohio,  on  the  ferry,  so  great  that  he 
had  to  wait  "a  great  part  of  the  morning"  for  his  turn.3 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  territorial  period  freight 
charges  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg,  by  land,  were  from 
seven  to  ten  dollars  per  hundredweight;4  from  Pittsburg 
to  Shawneetown,  one  dollar;  from  Louisville  to  Shawnee- 
town, thirty- seven  cents;  and  from  New  Orleans  to 
Shawneetown,  four  dollars  and  a  half.5     The  use  of  arks 

1.  "Memoir  of  John  Mason  Peck,"  71,  74. 

2.  Ibid.,  74-81.^  The  disparity  in  dates  in  the  latter  part  of  the  quotation 
suggests  that  "23d  of  October"  should  probably  read  "3d  of  October." 

3.  Fearon,  "Sketches  of  America,"  25S;  William  Tell  Harris,  "Remarks 
Made  During  a  Tour  through  the  U.  S.  of  America  in  the  Years  181 7, 
1818,  1819." 

4.  Birkbeck,  "Journey  from  Va.  to  111.,"  1817,  128. 

5.  Fearon,  "Sketches  of  Am.,"  1817,  260.  In  Fearon's  work  2s.  y.i.  is 
equal  to  50  cents,  p.  5. 


126  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

was  common.  These  were  flat-bottomed  boats  of  a  ton- 
nage of  from  twenty- five  to  thirty  tons,  covered,  square  at 
the  ends,  of  a  uniform  size  of  fifty  feet  in  length  and 
fourteen  in  breadth,  usually  sold  for  seventy-five  dollars, 
and  would  carry  three  or  four  families.  A  common  prac- 
tice was  to  re-sell  them  at  a  somewhat  reduced  price  to 
someone  going  further  down  the  river.  Two  dollars  was 
the  charge  for  piloting  an  ark  over  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.1 

There  is  much  truth  in  the  remarks  made  by  a  German 
traveler  in  1818-19.  He  said:  "The  State  of  Illinois  is 
from  one  thousand  to  twelve  hundred  miles  distant  from 
the  sea  ports.  The  journey  thither  is  often  as  costly  and 
tedious,  for  a  man  with  a  family,  as  the  sea  passage.  Any 
father  of  a  family,  unless  he  is  well-to-do,  can  certainly 
count  on  being  impoverished  upon  his  arrival  in  Illinois. 
At  Williamsport,  on  the  Susquehanna,  I  found  a  Swiss, 
who,  with  his  wife  and  ten  children,  had  spent  one  thousand 
French  crown -dollars  for  their  journey.  In  the  village  of 
Williamsport,  an  old  German  schoolmaster,  who  seems  to 
have  been  formerly  a  merchant  in  Nassau,  told  me  that 
the  passage  of  himself  and  family  had  cost  thirteen  hun- 
dred dollars.  For  an  adult  the  fare  is  seventy-five  dollars — 
one  dollar  is  equal  to  one  thaler,  ten  groschen,  Prussian 
— for  children  under  twelve  years,  half  so  much,  for  chil- 
dren of  two  years,  one-fourth  so  much,  and  only  babes  in 
arms  go  free."2 

It  can  now  be  understood  why  people  emigrated  to  the 
West,  and  also  why  many  went  overland.  A  family  too 
poor  to  go  by  water  could  go  in  a  buggy  or  wagon,  and  if 
poorer  still  they  might  walk,  as  many  actually  did.  The 
immigration  to  Illinois,  which  was  but  a  small  fraction  of 

1.  Kingdom,  "Am.  and  the  British  Colonies,"  2. 

2.  Hecke,  "Reise  durch  die' Vereinigten  Staaten  von  Nord- Amerika," 
1818-19,  I.,  34. 


TRANSPORTATION    AND    SETTLEMENT.  \2J 

the  great  westward  movement,  was  still  largely  southern 
in  origin,  Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  even  New  York 
still  staying,  in  large  measure,  the  tide  from  New  England. 
In  New  England  it  was  the  "Ohio  fever"  and  not  the 
Illinois  fever  which  carried  away  the  people,  and  the 
designation  is  geographically  correct.  The  men  prominent 
in  Illinois  politics  at  the  close  of  the  territorial  period,  and 
at  the  beginning  of  the  state  period,  were  natives  of  south- 
ern states,  a  fact  hardly  conceivable  if  New  England  had 
been  largely  represented  in  Illinois.  Then,  too,  the  natural 
routes  from  the  South  led  to,  or  near  to,  Illinois,  the  great 
road  from  the  South  crossing  the  Ohio  River  at  Shawnee- 
town,  and  the  Kentucky  and  Cumberland  rivers  being 
natural  water  routes.  Another  fact  to  be  noticed  is  that 
much  of  the  emigration  was  of  relatives  and  friends  to 
join  those  who  had  gone  before,  and  as  Virginia,  Mary- 
land, Kentucky,Tennessee,the  Carolinas,  and  even  Georgia, 
had  furnished  a  large  number  of  early  settlers  to  Illinois, 
this  was  a  powerful  inducement  to  continued  emigration 
from  the  same  sources.  Similarly  Ohio  and  Michigan  had 
early  received  settlers  from  the  East. 

Immigration  to  Illinois  was  not  large  in  comparison  to 
that  to  neighboring  states  or  territories.  Indians  still  held 
the  greater  part  of  Illinois,  and  the  inconveniences  inci- 
dent to  frontier  life  were  more  pronounced  as  the  distance 
from  the  East  increased.  Pro- slavery  men,  and  anti- 
slavery  men  as  well,  were  still  in  doubt  as  to  the  ultimate 
fate  of  slavery  in  Illinois.  This  had  a  deterrent  effect 
upon  immigration. 


128  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

IV. 

Life  of  the  Settlers. 

A  CCORDING  to  the  marshal's  return  the  manufactures 
i  1     in  Illinois,  in  1810,  were  as  follows: 

Value. 

Spinning-wheels $      630 

Looms,  460;    cloth  produced, 

90,039  yards _ 54,028 

Tanneries,  9;  leather  dressed.      7,750 

Distilleries,  10,200  gallons 7,500 

Flour,  6,440  barrels 32,200 

Maple  sugar,  15,600  lbs 1,98c1- — $104,088 

This  list  incidentally  indicates  the  average  price  of  several 
manufactured  articles.  For  the  first  six  months  of  18 14, 
the  internal  revenue  assessed  in  Illinois  was: 

Licenses  for  stills  and  boilers -$490. 14 

Carriages 62.00 

Licenses  to  retailers 835.00 

Stamps 5.60 — $1392.74 

Of  this  amount  ($1392.74),  $1047.37  had  been  paid  by 
October  10,  1814.2  For  the  period  from  April  18,  18 15, 
to  February  22,  18 16,  the  following  were  the  internal 
duties: 

Hats,  caps,  and   bonnets $  66.50^ 

Saddles  and  bridles 65.25 

Boots  and  bootees 7.26 

Leather 1 84.35/2  —$323-37 

This  was  the  smallest  sum  listed  in  any  part  of  the  United 
States,  except  Michigan  Territory.3     For  1818: 

1.  Warden,  "Acct.  of  the  U.  S.  of  N.  A.,"  1S19,  III.,  62. 

2.  "State  Papers,"  13th  Cong.,  3d  Sess. 

3.  "State  Papers,"  14th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  II.,  folio.      Another  volume  with 
the  same  number  is  a  quarto. 


LIFE   OF   THE   SETTLERS.  1 29 

Licenses  for  stills $  214.91 

Tn    .  •   •.      f  at  20c.  per  gal.       549—3 

Duty  on  spirits  -  K    s         J^y    ^ 

'  r  (at  25c.  per  gal.       7OI.26 

On  eighteen  carriages 36.75 

Licenses  to  retailers 1 248.80 

On  stamped  paper  and  bank- 
notes    4.50 

Manufactured   goods 220.14 — $2975.59 

Of  this  amount,  $1966.41  was  paid,  only  Indiana  and 
Missouri  territories  paying  a  smaller  proportion  of  their 
assessment.1  The  small  proportion  paid  in  these  three 
territories  may  have  been  due  to  the  poverty  of  their 
inhabitants. 

Most  of  the  manufactured  articles  were  consumed  within 
the  territory.  Both  cotton  and  flax  were  raised  and  made 
into  cloth;  maple  sugar  was  sometimes  sold  and  exported, 
but  a  large  proportion  of  the  supply  was  used  as  a  substi- 
tute for  sugar,  another  substitute  much  used  being  wild 
honey.  A  certain  Smith's  Prairie  was  celebrated  for  the 
numerous  plum  and  crabapple  orchards  that  grew  around 
its  borders.  The  large  red  and  yellow  plums  grew  there 
in  such  abundance  that  people  would  come  from  long 
distances  and  haul  them  away  by  the  wagon -loads,  and 
would  preserve  them  with  honey  or  maple  sugar,  which 
was  the  only  sweetening  they  had  in  pioneer  times.2 

Previous  to  the  War  of  18 12,  little  commerce  was  carried 
on,  although  a  few  trips  had  been  made  to  New  Orleans 
with  keel-boats  or  pirogues,, and  some  goods  were  occa- 
sionally brought  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains  by  means 
of  wagons.  The  round  trip  to  New  Orleans  and  back 
then  required  six  months;  the  trip  down  was  easy  and 
required   a   comparatively  short  time,  but   the   return  trip 

1.  Ibid.,  14th  Cong.,  2d  Sess. ,  I. 

2.  Ross,  "Early  Pioneers  and  Pioneer  Events,''  65. 


130  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

was  slow.  It  was  entirely  a  barter  trade,  money  being 
almost  unknown.  Furs,  wild  honey,  and  other  commodities 
of  Illinois,  as  well  as  lead  from  the  Missouri  mines,  were 
carried  down  and  exchanged  for  groceries,  cloth,  and  other 
articles  of  a  large  value  and  small  bulk.  As  a  natural 
consequence  of  having  to  be  transported  up  stream,  goods 
of  that  nature  were  extremely  dear,  the  common  price  of 
tea  being  sixteen  dollars  a  pound,  of  coffee  fifty  cents,  and 
of  calico  fifty  cents  per  yard.1  To  go  up  the  Mississippi 
from  St.  Louis  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  in  1815,  required  from 
twelve  days  to  a  month,  while  the  return  trip  was  made  in 
from  six  to  ten  days.2 

In  the  great  American  Bottom  of  the  Mississippi,  extend- 
ing from  the  mouth  of  the  Kaskaskia  almost  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Illinois,  cattle  raising  was  a  leading  industry,  the 
cattle  being  driven  to  the  Philadelphia  or  Baltimore  mar- 
kets.3 Towards  the  close  of  the  period  land  could  easily 
be  secured  by  government  entry.  The  fertility  of  the 
land  was  such  as  must  have  been  new  to  those  immigrants 
who  came  from  the  poorer  parts  of  the  older  states- 
Land  was  subject  to  a  tax  of  a  little  more  that  two  cents 
per  acre,  the  tax  being  about  equally  divided  between  the 
territory  and  the  county.4  Public  lands  were  not  to  be 
taxed  by  the  state,  after  18 18,  until  five  years  from  the 
date  of  their  sale.  Governor  Edwards,  who  was  a  large 
landowner,  offered  to  pay  three  dollars  per  acre  for  plow- 
ing.5 Prairies  were  not  yet  settled  to  any  considerable 
extent,  but  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  a  traveler  of  18 18- 19 

1.  Kingston,  "Early  Western  Days,"  in  "Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  VII.,  313. 

2.  Shaw,  "Personal  Narrative,"  in  "Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  II.,  225. 

3.  Fearon,  "Sketches  of  Am.,"  1817,  258;  Brown,  "Western  Gazetteer; 
or,  Emigrant's  Directory,"  1S17,  20. 

4.  Birkbeck,  "Journey  from  Va.  to  111.,"  1817,  137. 

5.  Burnham,  in  "Pub.  of  the  111.  State  Hist.  Lib.,"  No.  VIII.,  1S1. 


LIFE   OF   THE   SETTLERS.  I  3  I 

suggested  what  was  eventually  to  be  the  solution  of  the 
question  of  prairie  settlement.  He  wrote:  "It  will  prob- 
ably be  some  time  before  these  vast  prairies  can  be 
settled,  owing  to  the  inconvenience  attending  the  want  of 
timber.  I  know  of  no  way,  unless  the  plan  is  adopted  of 
ditching  and  hedging,  and  the  building  of  brick  houses, 
and  substituting  the  stone  coal  for  fuel.  It  seems  as  if  the 
bountiful  hand  of  nature,  where  it  has  withheld  one  gift  has 
always  furnished  another;  for  instance,  where  there  is  a 
scarcity  of  wood,  there  are  coal  mines."1  The  remedy 
suggested  was  the  one  adopted,  except  that  brick  houses 
did  not  become  common. 

Really  good  roads  were  entirely  lacking.  Most  of  the 
settlements  were  connected  by  roads  that  were  practicable 
at  most  seasons  for  packers  and  travelers  on  horseback, 
but  in  times  of  flood  the  suspension  of  travel  by  land  was 
practically  complete.  A  post -road  had  been  established 
between  Vincennes  and  Cahokia  in  1805,  and  in  18 10  a 
route  was  established  from  Vincennes,  by  way  of  Kaskas- 
kia,  Prairie  du  Rocher,  and  Cahokia,  to  St.  Louis.  At  this 
time  and  place,  however,  a  post- route  does  not  necessarily 
imply  anything  more  than  a  bridle-path.  Mail  was  received 
at  irregular  intervals,  although  the  trips  were  regularly 
made  in  good  weather.  The  post-office  nearest  Chicago 
was  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  whence  a  soldier  on  foot  carried 
the  mail  once  a  month.2  A  report  for  the  first  six  months 
of  1814  shows,  in  Illinois,  nine  post-offices,  three  hundred 
and  eighty-eight  miles  of  post-roads,  about  $143  received  for 
postage,  and  $1002  paid  for  transportation  of  mail — a  bal- 

1.  Harding,  "Tour  through  the  Western  Country,"  S.  This  passage  is 
practically  plagiarized  in  Ogden,  "Letters  from  the  West,"  and  in  Thwaites, 
"Early  Western  Travels,"  XIX.,  56. 

7.  F  aimer,  "  U.  S.  and  Canada,"  181S,  417;  "Statutes  at  Large,"  II., 
584;  "Incidents  and  Events  in  the  Life  of  Gurdon  Saltonstall  Hubbard,"  38. 


132  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

ance  of  some  $859  against  the  United  States.1  At  this 
time  even  Cleveland,  Chillicothe,  and  Marietta  received 
mail  but  twice  per  week.* 

Books  were  very  scarce,3  and  no  newspapers  had  been 
published  in  Illinois  before  its  separate  territorial  organiza- 
tion. Between  1809  and  18 18  there  were  founded  the 
Illinois  Herald  and  the  Western  Intelligencer,  at  Kaskaskia, 
the  latter  becoming  the  Illinois  Intelligencer  on  May  27, 
1 8 18;  and  the  Shawnee  Chief,  at  Shawneetown.4  In  18 16 
the  citizens  of  Shawneetown  gave  notice  through  the 
papers  of  Kaskaskia,  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  and  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  that  they  would  apply  to  the  Legislature  of 
Illinois  for  the  establishment  of  a  bank.5  This  may  indi- 
cate that  the  papers  of  the  places  named  had  a  considerable 
circulation  in  Illinois. 

The  character  of  the  immigrants  left  much  to  be  desired. 
A  good  observer  wrote:  "After  residing  awhile  in  White 
County,  Tennessee,  I  migrated  in  May,  18 17,  to  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  then  Territory  of  Illinois,  and  settled  in 
Madison  County,  twenty-five  miles  east  of  St. -Louis,  which 
town  then  contained  about  five  thousand  inhabitants.  The 
surrounding  country,  however,  was  quite  sparsely  settled, 
and  destitute  of  any  energy  or  enterprise  among  the 
people;  their  labors  and  attention  being  chiefly  confined  to 
the  hunting  of  game,  which  then  abounded,  and  tilling  a 
small  patch  of  corn   for  bread,  relying  on  game  for   the 

1.  "State  Papers,"  13th  Cong.,  3d  Sess. 

2.  Ibid.,  13th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  II. 

3.  "Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartvvright, "  178;  Birkbeck,  "Tourney  from 
Va.  to  111.,"  1817,  12S. 

4.  James  and  Loveless,  "Newspapers  in  111.  Prior  to  1S60, "  "Pub.  of  the 
111.  State  Hist.  Lib.,"  No.  I.,  41,  42,  64,  73,  74;  Palmer,  "U.  S.  and  Can- 
ada,"  1S1S,  416. 

5.  Burnham,  "An  Early  111.  Newspaper,"  "Pub.  of  the  111.  State  Hist. 
Lib.,"  No.  VIII.,  1S2. 


LIFE   OF   THE    SETTLERS.  133 

remaining  supplies  of  the  table.  The  inhabitants  were  of 
the  most  generous  and  hospitable  character,  and  were 
principally  from  the  southern  states;  harmony  and  the 
utmost  good  feeling  prevailed  throughout  the  country."1 
Naturally  this  description  was  not  of  universal  application, 
but  the  source  of  the  population  and  the  reasons  for 
removing  from  the  old  homes  make  it  probable  that  it  was 
widely  appropriate. 

If  it  was  difficult  for  an  emigrant  to  reach  Illinois,  and 
if,  after  reaching  it,  he   was   inconvenienced   by  the  poor 
facilities  for  commerce,  the  bad   roads,  the  infrequency  of 
mails,  the   scarcity  of  schools   and    churches,  he   at   least 
found  it  easy  to  obtain  a  living,  and  to  some  of  the  immi- 
grants of  the  territorial  period  it  was  worth  something  not 
to  starve,  even  though  living  was  reduced  to  its  lowest 
terms.     The  poorest  immigrant  had  access  to  land  on  the 
borders  of  settlement,  because  the  laws  against  squatting 
were  not  enforced.     This  same  class  could   procure  game 
in  abundance,  while  maple  sugar,  wild  honey,  persimmons, 
crabapples,  nuts,  pawpaws,  wild  grapes,  wild   plums,   fish, 
mushrooms,  "greens,"  berries  of  several   kinds,  and    other 
palatable  natural   products  known  to  the  Illinois  frontiers- 
man, were  to  be  had   in   most,  if  not  all,  of  the  localities 
then  settled.     Hogs  fattened  on  the  mast.     Log  houses 
could   be   built  without   nails.     The   problem  of  clothing 
was  probably  more  difficult  at  first  than  that  of  food,  but 
although   clothing  could   not  be  picked  up  in  the  woods, 
the  materials  for  making  it   could  be  grown  in  the  fields. 
Spinning,   and    the    processes    necessarily   preceding    and 
following  it,  involved  a  certain   amount  of  labor.     Taxes 
were  not  high,  nor  were  tax  laws  rigidly  enforced.     It  is 
thus  easy  to  understand  the  reasoning  that  may  have  led 
a  large  proportion  of  the  immigrants  during  this  period  to 
leave  their  old  homes. 

I.   Col.  Daniel  M.  Parkison,  "Pioneer  Life  in  Wis.,"  in  "Wis.    Hist.   Sac.. 
Coll.,"  II.,  326-7,  cf.   "Memoir  of  John  Mason  Peck,"  76,  S7. 


CHAPTER    V. 

The   First  Years  of  Statehood, 

i  8  i  8  to  1830. 
The  Indian  and  Land  Questions. 

ONE  of  the  most  important  cessions  of  land  in  Illinois 
ever  made  by  the  Indians  was  that  made  by  the 
Kickapoo  in  18 19,  of  the  vast  region  lying  north  of  the 
parallel  of  390 — a  little  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois 
River,  and  southeast  of  the  Illinois  River.1  Settlement 
had  been  crowding  hard  upon  this  region  and  many 
squatters  anxiously  awaited  the  survey  and  sale  of  the 
land,  especially  of  that  in  the  famous  Sangamon  country. 
In  northern  Illinois  settlement  was  still  retarded  by  the 
presence  of  Indians.  In  1825,  the  Menominee,  Kaskaskia, 
Sauk  and  Fox,  Potawatomi,  and  Chippewa  tribes  claimed 
over  5,314,000  acres  of  land  in  Illinois,2  and  there  was  a 
licensed  Indian  trader  at  Sangamo,  one  at  the  saline  near 
the  present  Danville,  and  two  on  Fever  River.3  Two  years 
later  there  were  three  such  traders  at  Fever  River,  and  two 
at  Chicago,4  and  in  1827-28  there  was  one  at  Fever  River 
with  a  capital  of  about  $20005  In  February,  1829,  there 
were  Indian  agents  at  Chicago,  Fort  Armstrong,  Kaskas- 
kia, and    Peoria,  as  well    as   others  near  the  borders   of 

1.  "Indian  Aff.,"  II.,  196-7;  "iSth'An.  Kept,  of  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology," Pt.  2,  696-9,  Plate  CXXV. ;  Dana,  "Sketches  of  Western  Country," 
1 8 19,  147.     See  map  of _  Indian  cessions. 

2.  "State  Papers,"  No.  64,  18th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  IV. 

3.  Ibid.,  No.  118,  19th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  VI. 

4.  Ibid.,  No.  96,  20th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  III.;  "Ex.  Doc,"  No.  140,  20th 
Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  IV. 

5.  "Senate  Doc,"  No.  47,  20th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  I. 

134 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  1 35 

Illinois.1  At  this  time,  the  Ottawa,  Chippewa,  Potawato- 
mi,  Kaskaskia,  and  Winnebago  claimed  land  in  the  state, 
although  only  about  6000  of  the  more  than  25,000  mem- 
bers of  these  tribes  resided  in  the  state.  The  eight 
members  of  the  Kaskaskia  tribe  held  a  small  reservation 
near  the  Kaskaskia  River.  Of  the  twenty -two  hundred 
members  of  the  Kickapoo  tribe,  which  had  relinquished  all 
claim  to  land  east  of  the  Mississippi,  about  two  hundred 
still  lived  on  the  Mackinaw  River,  but  they  were  expected 
to  move  in  a  few  weeks.2  By  a  treaty  of  July  29,  1829, 
the  Chippewa,  Ottawa,  and  Potawatomi  ceded  their  claims 
in  northern  Illinois.3  There  still  remained  the  Winnebago 
tribe,  and  not  until  1S33  was  Illinois  to  be  free  from  Indian 
claims.4 

A  war  with  the  Winnebago  tribe  was  imminent  in  1827. 
Settlers  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state  either  fled  to  the 
southward  or  collected  at  such  points  as  Galena  or  Prairie 
du  Chien.  "This  was  a  period  of  great  suffering  at  Galena. 
The  weather  was  inclement  and  two  or  three  thousand 
persons  driven  suddenly  in,  with  scant  provisions,  without 
ammunition  or  weapons  encamped  in  the  open  air,  or  cloth 
tents  which  were  but  little  better,  were  placed  in  a  very 
disagreeable  and  critical  position."3  The  prompt  action  of 
Governor  Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan,  averted  what  would  in 
all  probability  have  been  a  bloody  war,  if  prompt  action 
had  not  been  taken.6 

1.  Ibid.,  No.  72,  20th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  I. 

2.  "Senate  Doc.,"  No.  72,  20th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  E;  see  also  ibid.,  No.  27. 

3.  "State  Papers, "  No.  24,  21st  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  IE;  "18th  An.  Rept. 
of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,"  Pt.  2,  722-5,  Plate  CXXV. 

4.  Ibid.,  Pt.  2,  736-7,  73S-9,  750-1,  Plates  CXXIV.  and  CXXV. 

5.  Tenney,  "Early  Times  in  Wis.,"  in  "Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  E,  96. 

6.  McLaughlin,  "Lewis  Cass,"  125;  Young,  "Life  of  Gen.  Lewis  Cass,"  93. 


136  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

To    September  30,    18 19,   the    record  of   land    sales    in 
Illinois  was  as  follows: 

Acres  Unsold.   Acres  Sold.  Price. 

Shawneetown 4,561,920     562,296     $1,153,897 

Kaskaskia 2,188,800     407,027        1,781,773 

Edwardsville 2,625,960     394,730  795,531 x 

The  balances  unpaid  by  purchasers  of  public  lands  steadily 
increased  from  1813  to  1819  until  on  September  30,  1819, 
there  was  due  from  purchasers  of  land  in  the  area  of  the 
old  Northwest  Territory  nearly  ten  million  dollars.2  An 
increase  would  have  resulted  merely  from  an  increased  sale 
of  public  lands  under  the  credit  system,  but  it  is  also  true 
that  the  difficulty  of  collecting  the  unpaid  balances  became 
so  great  that  the  government  at  last  abolished  the  credit 
system,  by  the  act  of  April  24,  1820.  The  act  provided 
that  after  July  1,  1820,  no  credit  whatever  should  be  given 
to  the  purchasers  of  public  lands;  that  land  might  be  sold 
in  either  sections,  half-sections,  quarter- sections,  or  eighth- 
sections;  that  the  minimum  price  should  be  reduced  from 
two  dollars  to  one  dollar  and  twenty- five  cents  per  acre; 
and  that  reverted  lands  should  be  offered  at  auction  before 
being  offered  at  private  sale.3  At  least  two  of  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act  had  long  been  desired  by  Illinois  in 
common  with  other  frontier  regions:  the  reduction  of  the 
minimum  price  and  the  sale  in  smaller  tracts.  Under  the 
new  law  a  man  with  one  hundred  dollars  could  buy  eighty 
acres  of  land,  while  previously  the  same  man  would  have 
had  to  pay  eighty  of  his  one  hundred  dollars  as  the  first 
payment  on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  the  smallest  tract 
then  sold.  The  great  danger  had  been  that  the  second, 
third,  and  fourth  payments  could  not  be  made.     In  Illinois, 

1.  "State  Papers,"  Senate,  No.  87,  16th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  II. 

2.  Ibid.,  No.  57,  16th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  V. 

3.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  III.,  566-7. 


INDIAN  CLSSIONS 

/QI8-/&30 


FIRST   YEARS    OF    STATEHOOD.  I  37 

before  July  1,  1820,  there  had  been  sold  1,593,247.53  acres 
of  the  public  land,  at  an  average  price  of  about  $2.02  per 
acre.     Some  of  this  reverted  from  non-payment.1 

During  the  third  quarter  of  1820,  all  sales  in  Illinois 
were  at  the  minimum  price  and  a  considerable  proportion 
were  of  the  minimum  area.  At  the  same  time,  some  of 
the  land  in  Ohio,  and  a  very  few  tracts  in  Indiana,  sold  at 
a  higher  price,  one  tract  in  Ohio,  but  only  one,  selling  for 
more  than  seven  dollars  per  acre.2  To  October  I,  1821, 
the  land-offices  in  Illinois  reported: 

Surveyed, 
Acres  Sold.  but  Unsold. 

Shawneetown 592,464         2,401,936 

Kaskaskia 419,898  1,615,942 

Palestine 714         2,880,720 

Edwardsville 437,993         2,696,727 

Vandalia 7,923         2,545,  &77 

All  land  in  the  districts  of  Shawneetown  and  Kaskaskia 
had  been  surveyed,  but  the  remaining  districts  were  still 
indefinite  on  the  north.3  At  this  time,  Illinois  money 
passed  in  the  state  at  par,  and  the  Bank  of  Illinois  was 
among  those  whose  notes  were  received  in  payment  for 
public  lands.4 

As  more  and  more  land  was  opened  to  settlement,  a 
new  difficulty  arose  and  became  increasingly  troublesome. 
All  public  land  was  to  be  entered  at  the  same  minimum 
price,  and  as  a  natural  result,  the  poorest  land  was  not  taken 

1.  Donaldson,  "  Public  Domain, "  200  ff. 

2.  "State  Papers,"  No.  35,  16th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  II. 

3.  "Pub.  Lands,"  III.,  533.  It  is  interestir.g  to  note  that  for  the  five  years 
ending  in  1822,  the  Pulteney  estate  of  380,000  acres  of  land  in  Steuben  and 
Alleghany  counties,  New  York,  had  sold  an  average  of  10,000  acres  per 
year,  at  an  average  price  of  $3.37  per  acre  — "  Columbian  Centinel, "  Boston, 
Oct.  2,  1822. 

4.  "Illinois  Intelligencer,"  Oct.  30,  1821. 

I  I 


138  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS.' 

up  and  settlement  became  widely  dispersed  on  the  best 
tracts  of  land.  In  December,  1824,  the  Illinois  legislature 
sent  a  memorial  to  Congress  portraying  the  evils  of  sparse 
settlement,  and  asking  that  land  that  had  been  offered  for 
sale  for  five  years  or  more  might  be  sold  at  fifty  cents  per 
acre.  Better  roads,  better  markets,  and  better  institutions 
were  expected  to  result  from  such  sales.1  Two  years  later, 
another  memorial  was  sent.  This  asked  that  land  be 
offered  for  sale  at  prices  graduated  according  to  the  quality 
of  the  land,  suggested  that  the  poorest  land  might  well 
be  donated  to  settlers,  and  declared  that  settlement  was 
retarded  by  the  high  minimum  price  of  land.2  Governor 
Ninian  Edwards  pointed  out  that  in  1790,  Hamilton  had 
recommended  that  public  lands  be  sold  at  twenty  cents 
per  acre,  which  "was  the  price  at  which  Kentucky,  long 
afterward,  sold  her  lands."3  In  1828,  the  Committee  on 
Public  Lands  recommended  that  public  lands  unsold  at 
public  sale  be  first  offered  at  one  dollar  per  acre,  and  if 
still  unsold,  that  the  price  be  reduced  twenty- five  cents  per 
acre  each  two  years  until  sold  or  reduced  to  twenty- five 
cents  per  acre;  that  eighty-acre  homestead  claims  be  given 
to  such  persons  as  would  cultivate  and  occupy  them  for  five 
years;  and  that  lands  unsold  at  twenty-five  cents  per  acre 
be  ceded  to  the  states  in  which  they  lay,  upon  payment  of 
the  cost  of  survey  and  twenty- five  cents  per  acre.  At  this 
time,  there  was  in  Illinois  1,403,482  acres  surveyed  and  sold ; 
19,684,186  acres  surveyed  and  unsold,  of  the  39,000,000 
acres  estimated  to  be  in  the  State.4  Still  another  memorial 
from   the   legislature   was   sent   to   Congress   in   1829.     It 

1.  "Pub.  Lands, "  IV.,  14S;  "Repts.  and  S.   Doc,"  No.  25,  iSth  Cong., 
2d  Sess.,  II. 

2.  "Pub.  Lands,"  IV.,  871 ;  " S.  Doc,"  No.  17,  19th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  II. 

3.  "H.  J.,»  111.,  1826-27,  p.  54. 

4.  "Repts.  of  Com.,"  No.  125,  20th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  II. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  1 39 

pointed  out,  in  strong  terms,  the  inconvenience  arising  from 
the  high  price  at  which  public  land  was  offered  for  sale. 
Unsold  public  land  could  neither  be  taxed  nor  legally 
settled.  It  was  stated  that  of  the  forty  millions  of  acres 
•in  Illinois,  little  over  one  and  one-half  millions  had  been 
sold  at  public  sales.  A  granting  of  the  right  of  pre- 
emption, which  implies  the  presence  in  the  state  of 
squatters,  is  suggested.1 

The  implication  of  the  presence  of  squatters  was  well 
founded.  When  Peter  Cartwright,  in  1823,  visited  a  settle- 
ment in  the  Sangamon  country,  he  found  it  a  community 
of  squatters,  on  land  which  had  been  surveyed,  but  was 
not  yet  offered  for  sale.  Money  was  hoarded  up  to  enter 
land  when  Congress  should  order  sales.  Cartwright  paid 
a  squatter  two  hundred  dollars  for  his  improvement  and 
his  claim,  bought  some  stock,  and  rented  out  the  place,  to 
which  he  was  to  remove  from  Kentucky  the  following 
year.2  This  squatting  on  surveyed  land,  and  even  on 
unsurveyed  land,  was  a  regular  procedure.  It  added  much 
to  the  difficulty  of  governing  the  state  —  hence  the  memo- 
rials to  Congress,  and  hence  the  great  significance  to 
Illinois  of  an  act  of  May  29,  1830,  which  gave  to  all 
settlers  who  had  cultivated  land  in  1829  the  right  to  pre- 
empt not  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres.3  This 
law  was  of  general  application.  Even  now  the  Illinois 
legislature  sent  another  petition  concerning  preemption  to 
Congress,  because  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  May, 
1 8  30,  was  that  the  plat  of  survey  should  have  been  filed 

1.  "Senate  Doc,"  No.  58,  20th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  I.  For  the  long  and 
futile  effort  made  in  Congress  to  secure  a  law  graduating  the  price  of  public 
lands,  see  Meigs,  "Life  of  Thomas  Hart  Benton,"  ch.  xi.,  with  the  foot  refer- 
ences thereto. 

2.  Strickland,  "Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartwright, "  246,  254. 

3.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  IV.,  420-1. 


140  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

in  the  land-office,  and  this  provision  debarred  about  one 
thousand  Illinois  squatters  from  the  benefit  of  the  act.  A 
modification  in  their  favor  was  desired.1 

The  land  claims  of  the  ancient  settlers,  as  they  are 
called  in  government  documents,  continued  to  occupy  the 
attention  of  Congress,  in  a  desultory  way,  throughout  the 
period,  but  their  influence  upon  settlement  had  practically 
ceased  with  the  opening  of  the  public  land -offices.2 

Among  the  obstacles  to  settlement  was  the  holding  of 
land  by  non-residents.  Such  lands  were  subject  to  a  triple 
tax  in  case  of  delinquency,  and  when  sold  for  taxes  and 
costs  frequently  did  not  bring  enough  for  that  purpose,  in 
which  event  they  reverted  to  the  state  and  the  state  paid 
the  costs.  Redemption,  although  possible,  was  rare.3  In 
1823,  about  nine  thousand  quarter-sections  of  land  in  the 
Military  Tract,  lying  between  the  Illinois  and  the  Missis- 
sippi, were  advertised  for  sale,  because  of  the  non-payment 
of  taxes  by  non-resident  landholders.4  At  this  time,  two 
of  the  prominent  men  of  the  state  who  wished  to  dispose 
of  a  large  amount  of  state  paper,  advertised  that  they  would 
pay  such  delinquent  taxes  at  twenty-five  per  cent  discount.5 
In  1826,  thirty-eight  pages  of  the  Illinois  Intelligencer 
were  filled  with  a  description,  in  double  column,  of  lands 
owned  by  non-residents,  the  lands  being  for  sale  for  taxes. 
In  1829,  a  similar  list  filled-thirty-two  pages.6  Much  dis- 
content was  manifested  in  the  state  on  account  of  the  laws 

1.  "Pub.  Lands,"  VI.,  249. 

2.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  III.,  786;  "  Repts.  of  Com.,"  No.  58,  17th  Cong., 
1st  Sess.,  I.;  "Pub.  Lands,"  III.,  406,  412-3,  421,  462-3;  VI.,  23-5;  "S. 
Doc,"  No.  10,  21st  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  I. 

3.  "Illinois  Intelligencer,"  Vandalia,  111.,  Apr.  24,  1821. 

4.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXV.,  117. 

5.  "Washington  (D.  C.)  Republican,"  Sept.  27,  1823. 

6.  "Illinois  Intelligencer, "  Oct.  3,  1829. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  141 

concerning  the  public  lands,  and  Governor  Edwards' 
message  to  the  legislature,  in  1830,  elaborated  a  theory 
that  all  public  lands  belonged  of  right  to  the  states  in 
which  they  lay.1 

Illinois  early  understood  that  an  Illinois- Michigan  canal 
would  help  to  people  her  northern  lands.  This  led  to 
many  efforts  to  secure  such  a  waterway.  In  18 19  a  favor- 
able topographical  report  concerning  the  route  for  the 
proposed  canal  was  made,2  and  in  1822  the  state  was 
authorized  to  construct  the  canal,  but  no  tangible  aid  was 
given.3  In  1825  the  legislature  petitioned  Congress  for  a 
grant  of  the  townships  through  which  the  canal  would 
pass.  A  committee  report  of  March,  1826,  which  was 
almost  identical  with  another  presented  in  February,  1825, 
pointed  out  that  the  cost  of  transporting  a  ton  of  mer- 
chandise from  Philadelphia,  New  York,  or  Baltimore  was 
about  ninety  dollars,  and  required  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
two  days.  The  probable  cost  by  the  proposed  canal,  the 
Lakes,  and  the  Erie  Canal,  from  St.  Louis  to  New  York 
was  from  sixty -three  to  sixty- five  dollars  per  ton,  and  the 
time  from  twelve  to  fifteen  days.  The  canal  would  bind 
Illinois  and  Missouri  to  the  North.4  Congress  received  a 
memorial  from  the  legislature  on  the  same  subject  in 
January,  1827,  requesting  the  grant  of  "two  entire  town- 
ships, along  the  whole  course  of  the  canal,"  and  declaring 
that  markets  at  New  Orleans  fluctuated  because  of  specu- 
lators, and  that  grain  and  goods  sent  from  the  West  to  the 
Atlantic  ports  by  way  of  New  Orleans  was  exposed  to  the 

1.  "  Senate  Jour. ,"  111.,  1830-31,  8-51.  The  message  was  delivered  on 
Dec.  7,  1830,  and  Edwards'  successor  was  inaugurated  the  following  day. 

2.  "State  Papers,"  No.  17,  16th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  II. 

3.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  III.,  659-60;  "Niles'  Register,"  XXII.,  59. 

4.  "Pub.  Lands,"  IV.,  437-S;  "  Repts.  of  Com.,"  No.  147,  19th  Cong., 
1st  Sess.,  II.;  ibid.,  No.  53,  iSth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  I.;  "  S.  Doc,"  No.  49, 
19th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  II. 


I42  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

dangers  of  both  the  southern  climate  and  the  sea.1  A  few 
weeks  later  the  desired  grant  was  made,  the  state  being 
given  one-half  of  five  sections  in  width  on  each  side  of 
the  canal,  the  United  States  reserving  the  alternate  sec- 
tions.2 The  canal  commissioners  promptly  platted  the 
orginal  town  of  Chicago  and  sold  lots  at  from  twenty  to 
eighty  dollars  each,  but  no  immediate  settlement  followed 
the  land  sale,  and  Chicago  remained  for  some  years  longer 
an  Indian  town.  The  prospect  of  having  a  canal  doubtless 
had  some  influence  upon  settlement,  but  at  the  close  of 
1830  the  actual  construction  of  the  canal  was  still  a  thing 
of  the  future.  By  the  close  of  1828,  Congress  had  donated 
to  Illinois,  for  various  purposes,  cjiiefly  for  schools  and 
internal  improvements,  1,346,000  acres.3 

The  salt  springs  had  been  vested  in  the  state  of  Illinois 
with  the  provision  that  no  part  of  the  reservations  should 
be  sold.  Large  reservations  were  made  at  the  Saline  River 
salt  works  and  at  the  Vermilion  saline  near  Danville,  the 
object  being  to  reserve  a  supply  of  wood  for  the  making 
of  salt.  Upon  the  discovery  of  coal  near  the  springs  the 
state  was  permitted  to  sell  not  more  than  thirty  thousand 
acres  of  the  Saline  River  reservation.4 

Illinois  as  a  landowner  sometimes  mingled  church  and 
state.  The  original  proprietors  of  Alton  having  donated 
one  hundred  lots,  one-half  for  the  support  of  the  gospel, 
and  one -half  for  the  support  of  a  public  school,  the  state 
vested  the  donated  lots  in  the  trustees  of  the  town,  upon 
its  incorporation  in  182 1.  A  similar  donation  made  by 
the  proprietors  of  Mt.  Carmel  was  confirmed  in  the  same 

1.  Ibid.,  No.  46,  19th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  II.;  "State  Papers,"  No.  Si,  19th 
Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  V. 

2.  "Pub.  Lands,"  VI.,  27;  "Statutes  at  Large,"  IV.,  234. 

3.  "S.  Doc,"  No.  11,  2 1st  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  I. 

4.  "Pub.  Lands,"  IV.,   888,   921;  V.,   y^   35,   620;  "  Statutes  at  Large," 

iv.,  305- 


FIRST   YEARS    OF    STATEHOOD. 


H3 


manner.1  The  Cumberland  Presbyterians  having  built  a 
church  on  a  school  section,  the  state  provided  that  for 
ninety- nine  years  the  building  should  be  used  as  a  school- 
house  also,  the  school  being  under  the  joint  direction  of 
the  trustees  of  the  township  and  the  church  society.2 

The  receipts  for  public  lands  in  1828  and  1829,  respect- 
ively, were: 

1828.  1829. 

Kaskaskia $  4,639.82  $    10,503.99 

Shawneetown 7,250.28  16,058.79 

Edwardsville 23,536.49  38,001.35 

Vandalia 4,489.71  24,258.13 

Palestine 25,671.62  59,026.81 

Springfield.. 56,507.63  108,175.47 

$122,095.55  $256,024,543 

The  receipts  for '1828  were  for  96,092.91  acres;  of  1829,  for 
196,324.92  acres.4  From  October  1,  1829,  to  September 
30,  1830,  sales,  receipts,  and  prices  were: 

Acres. 

Illinois 291,401.28 

Indiana 413,253.63 

Alabama .  _  .233,369.27 

Missouri 182,929.63 

Michigan 106,201.28 

Ohio .160,182.14 

Mississippi..  103,795.61 

The  northward  movement  of  population  in  Illinois  is  well 

1.  "Laws  of  111.,"  1820-21,  39-45;  1824-25,  72. 

2.  Ibid.,   1820-21,  153-4. 

3.  The  total  receipts  from  sales  of  1829  is  erroneously  given  as  $256,124.54 
in  the  original. 

4.  "Pub.  Lands,"  VI.,  158-9. 

5.  Ibid.,  VI.,  219;   "H.  Ex.  Doc,"  No.  19,  21st  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  I. 


Average  Price 

per  Acre. 

364,369.87 

$1.2504 

521,715-13 

I.2624 

291,715.20 

1.25 

228,748.12 

1.2505 

132,751.68 

1.25 

201,923.50 

I.2606 

130,475.87 

1.257    5 

144  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

indicated  by  the  figures  for  1828  and  1829.  The  Indian 
barrier  was  being  pushed  back,  and  the  Sangamon  country, 
with  its  land -office  at  Springfield,  was  a  favorite  place  for 
settlement.  The  rapid  increase  in  the  amount  of  land 
sold  is  also  striking.  As  the  third  decade  of  the  century 
closed  Indiana  was  the  favorite  place  for  frontier  settle- 
ment. The  sales  of  public  lands  in  Ohio  were  diminishing. 
A  prophetic  glance  would  have  seen  that  as  the  ever- 
shifting  frontier  passed  westward  Illinois  was  to  overtake 
and  then  to  far  surpass  Indiana  in  number  of  settlers. 

The  period  from  18 18  to  1830  saw  the  Indian  title  to  a 
great  fertile  tract  of  land  in  Illinois  extinguished,  the  price 
of  all  public  lands  lowered  and  the  land  offered  for  sale  in 
smaller  tracts,  the  right  of  preemption  granted  to  squatters 
who  had  settled  before  1830,  considerable  grants  of  land 
made  to  the  state  for  internal  improvements,  the  great  salt 
spring  reservations  reduced.  These  changes  did  much  to 
make  Illinois  a  more  attractive  place  for  settlement. 
When  a  committee  of  workingmen  in  Wheeling,  Virginia, 
made  a  report,  in  October,  1830,  on  a  method  of  escaping 
from  the  ills  of  workingmen,  they  presented  an  elaborate 
plan  for  buying  land  and  forming  a  colony  in  Illinois.1 
The  experience  of  the  squatter  who  settled  with  four  or 
five  sows  for  breeders  and  in  four  years  or  less  drove  forty- 
two  fat  hogs  to  market  and  sold  them  for  $135,  with  which 
he  bought  eighty  acres  of  land  and  paid  his  debts,  was  not 
a  rare  one.2 

As  1830  closed  there  were  still  problems  connected  with 
the  land  to  solve.  The  Indian  question  persisted,  non- 
resident   landholders    were    troublesome,    and    the    state 

1.  "Kept,  of  a  Meeting  of  Workingmen  in  the  City  of  Wheeling,  Va.,  on 
Forming  a  Settlement  in  the  State  of  111.,"  Oct.  4,  1830,  1-12. 

2.  "  Information  for  Emigrants,"  London,  1S4S,  33,  first  pagination.  The 
hogs  were  sold  in  1829. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  145 

would  still  seek  grants  for  internal  improvements,  but  none 
of  these  was  to  be  long  a  serious  impediment  to  settlement. 


The  Government  and  Its  Representatives, 
18 18  to  1830. 

In  some  respects  the  character  of  the  state  government 
0/  Illinois  shows  the  character  of  the  settlers.  The  nativity 
of  the  governors  and  the  congressmen  of  the  state  indicates 
that  the  South  was  the  origin  of  a  majority  of  the  popula- 
tion. Before  the  end  of  1830  there  had  been  no  northern- 
born  representative  of  the  state  in  the  national  House  of 
Representatives;  the  first  northern -born  senator  was  chosen 
in  the  last  month  of  1825,  and  the  first  northern  governor 
in    1830.1     Pierre   Menard,    a    French    Canadian,  the   first 

I.    Senators  from  Illinois: 

Nativity. 

Ninian  Edwards Maryland Dec.  4,  1818 — Mar.     4,  1824 

Jesse  B.  Thomas Maryland Dec.  4,1818  —  Mar.     3,1829 

t   i.      at  t  xt    ..1.    /-       v  j  l)ec-  2°.  '824  —  Mar.     3,   1825 

John  McLean. .North    Carolina.,  j  Dec     y>  l82^_0ct.    14,  1830 

Elias  K.  Kane New  York Dec.     5,  1825  —  Dec.  II,  1835 

David  J.    Baker Connecticut. ...  Dec.     6,  1830 — Jan.      4,  1831 

Representatives  from  Illinois: 

John  McLean North  Carolina Dec.     4,  1818  —  Mar.     3,  1S19 

Daniel  P.   Cook Kentucky Dec.    6,   1819  —  Mar.     3,  1827 

Joseph   Duncan Kentucky. Dec.    3,  1S27  —  Nov.         1834 

Governors  of  Illinois: 

1S09 — 1S18       Ninian  Edwards Maryland 

1 S 1 8  — 1822       Shadrach  Bond Marly  land 

1S22 — 1826       Edward  Coles Virginia 

1826 — 1830      Ninian  Edwards Maryland 

1830 — 1S34      John  Reynolds Pennsylvania 

The  governors  from  1834 — 1842  were  from  Kentucky,  1842  — 1861  from  the 
North,  1861  — 1873  from  Kentucky.  During  the  period  1846 — 1S53,  Illinois 
had  a  Democratic  governor  (Augustus  C.  French),  from  New  Hampshire,  this 
being  the  only  instance  of  an  Illinois  governor  from  New  England. 


146  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

lieutenant-governor,  came  to  Illinois  in  1790,  and  can  not 
fairly  be  cited  as  a  type  of  the  French  descendants  of  the 
first  white  settlers  of  Illinois.1  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
French  element  was  not  a  political  factor  of  importance. 
Nor  is  it  true  that  all  southerners  were  pro-slavery,  for  the 
most  noted  anti-slavery  governor  of  Illinois,  and  her  gov- 
ernor during  the  Civil  War,  were  from  the  South,  while 
her  first  northern  senator  was  pro-slavery.  The  great 
influx  of  immigrants  from  New  England  and  the  rest  of 
the  North  did  not  come  until  after  1830.  It  was  retarded, 
after  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal  (1825),  by  the  Winne- 
bago and  Black  Hawk  wars,  and  did  not  reach  its  height 
until  the  latter  war  had  closed  and  the  Indian  claims  to 
land  in  northern  Illinois  had  been  extinguished.  Immi- 
gration from  the  northern  states  increased  proportionally, 
however,  after  1820. 

Illinois  men  in  Congress  give  a  number  of  indications  of 
the  feeling  of  the  people  on  questions  having  a  more  or 
less  intimate  relation  to  settlement.  Constant  and  insistent 
demands  for  more  land-offices,  more  post-roads,  more 
pensions,  donations  of  land  for  poor  settlers,  grants  of 
land  for  internal  improvements,  the  right  of  preemption 
for  squatters,  and  the  reduction  of  the  price  of  public 
lands  show  that  the  frontier  was  in  favor  of  a  liberal  gov- 
ernmental expenditure.2  Congressmen  from  Illinois,  with- 
out exception,  favored  the  tariff  bills  of  1824  and  1828.3 
In  1828,  the  only  senator  from  Illinois  who  voted  on  the 

1.  Suite,  "  Histoire  des  Canadiens-Francais,"  VIII.,  53. 

2.  "Annals  of  Cong.,"  15th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,436,  ^04;  "  H.  J.,"  15th  Cong., 
2d  Sess.,  100,  136-7,  273,  308;  "S.  J.,"  15th  Cong.,  2d  Sess..  239,  240, 
278-85,  322;  16th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  107,  201-2,  245;  "Annals of  Cong.,"  16th 
Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  I.,  450-2,  482-5;  II.,  1331-3;  "S.  J.,"  21st  Cong.,  2d 
Sess.,  38,  48,  51. 

3.  "S.  J.,"  18th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  401;  "  II.  J.,"  iSth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  428; 
"Cong.  Debates,"  20th  Cong.,   1st  Sess.,  IV.    786,  2471. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  1 47 

question,  voted  for  the  bill  abolishing  imprisonment  for 
debt  on  processes  issuing  from  a  United  States  court.1 
Since  Illinois  early  abolished  such  imprisonment,  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  three  hundred  and  thirty- eight 
persons  were  committed  to  the  Essex  county  jail  in  New 
Jersey,  for  debt,  in  the  year  ending  April  1,  1823,  of  whom 
one  hundred  and  forty-one  were  in  close  confinement. 
The  aggregate  of  debt  was  fifty- five  thousand  dollars.2 

Within  the  state  one  of  the  phenomena  which  has  char- 
acterized frontier  regions  appeared  about  the  year  1S21. 
A  desperate  gang  of  immigrants  had  robbed  and  plundered 
until,  after  a  most  notable  robbery,  "a  public  meeting  was 
held,  and  among  other  things,  a  company  was  formed, 
consisting  of  ten  law-abiding  men  of  well-known  courage, 
who  bound  themselves  together,  under  the  name  of  the 
Regulators  of  the  Valley,  to  rid  the  country  of  horse 
thieves  and  robbers.  ...  A  regular  constitution  was 
drawn  up  and  subscribed  to."  After  the  leader  of  the 
desperadoes  had  been  killed  the  remainder  fled.3  A  fron- 
tier condition  is  indicated  also  by  the  fact  that  when 
Sangamon  county  was  formed,  on  January  30,  182 1,  a 
special  law  provided  that  housekeepers  in  the  county 
should  perform  the  duties  and  receive  the  privileges  of 
freeholders.  *The  same  provision  was  made  for  Morgan 
county  two  years  later.  As  land  sales  in  the  Sangamon 
country,  in  which  these  counties  lay,  did  not  begin  until 

3.  "Cong.  Debates,"  20th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  IV. ,  90. 

4.  "Ohio  Republican,"  April  19,  1823. 

1.  Eames,  "  Historic  Morgan  and  Classic  Jacksonville,"  22.  A  letter  from 
the  son  of  Mr.  Eames,  now  deceased,  says  that  search  has  failed  to  recover 
the  constitution  of  the  Regulates  of  the  Valley.  Regulators  were  also  useful 
in  preventing  speculators  from  entering  the  claims  of  squatters,  even  when  the 
squatter  was  too  poor  to  enter  his  own  claim — Henderson,  "Early  Hist,  of 
the  Sangamon  Country,  21.  For  another  instance,  see  Blaney,  "Excursion 
through  the  U.  S.,"  233-6;  also,  Reynolds,  "My  Own  Times,"  1879,  113. 


148  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

November,  1823,  these  laws  probably  resulted  from  the 
formation  of  counties  whose  entire  population  consisted  of 
squatters.1  The  persistence  of  wolf  bounties  bears  testi- 
mony to  continued  wild  surroundings.3  In  1829  alien 
Irish,  and  presumably  all  other  aliens,  could  vote  at  all 
elections.  An  election  law  of  this  year  provided  that 
voting  should  be  by  the  voter's  approaching  the  bar,  in 
the  election  room,  and  naming  in  an  audible  voice  the 
persons  for  whom  he  voted,  or,  if  the  voter  preferred,  by 
delivering  to  the  judges  a  ballot  which  should  be  read 
aloud  by  them,  the  alternative  being  for  the  benefit  of 
illiterate  voters.  Voting  had  previously  been  by  ballot.3 
Although  frontier  conditions  obtained,  there  were  evi- 
dences of  their  gradual  amelioration.  A  law  of  1823 
provided  that  counterfeiting,  which,  in  the  territorial  period, 
had  been  punishable  by  death,  should  be  punished  by  a 
fine  of  not  more  than  one  thousand  dollars,  whipping  with 
not  fewer  than  one  hundred  nor  more  than  two  hundred 
lashes,  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  twelve  months, 
and  being  rendered  forever  infamous.4  The  state  estab- 
lished a  system  of  common  schools  to  be  supported,  in 
part,  by  the  state,  in  1825;  but  in  1829  the  sections  of 
the  act  which  provided  that  two  per  cent  of  all  money 
received  into  the  state  treasury,  and  five-sixths  of  the 
interest  of  the  school  fund,  should  be  for  the  support  of 
public  schools,  were  repealed,5  taxation  for  such  a  purpose 
not    being    then    in    accord     with    public    sentiment.     A 

1.  "Laws  of  111.,"  1820-21,  pp.  45-6;  1822-23,  p.  109;  Henderson,  "Early 
Hist,  of  the  Sangamon  Country,"  21. 

2.  "Laws  of  111.,"  1822-23,  p.  86  ff . ;  1824-25,  p.  116. 

3.  "Miners'  Journal,"   Galena,   Dec.   22,    1S29;  "Revised  Laws  of  111.," 
1829,  57;  "H.  J., "(111.),  182S-29,  p.  57. 

4.  "Laws  of  111.,"  1822-23,  pp.  149-51. 

5.  Ibid.,  1824-25,  pp.  121-8;  "Revised  Laws  of  111.,"  1S29,  149. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  1 49 

mechanic's  lien  law,  passed  in  1825,  provided  that  in  case 
of  a  contract  between  a  landowner  and  a  mechanic,  the 
mechanic  should  have  a  lien  upon  the  product  of  his  labor 
for  three  months,  after  which  the  lien  lapsed  unless  suit 
had  been  commenced.  Three  years  later  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  to  secure  such  a  law  was  made  in  New  York.1 

Two  accounts  on  the  records  of  the  state  are  of  sufficient 
interest  to  give  at  length.     The  first  gives  the  amount  of 
money  received   into   the   treasury  during   the   two   years 
ending  December  27,  1822: 
"The   amount   paid   into   the   treasury  by  the 
different  sheriffs  within  the  two  years  end- 
ing as  aforesaid,  is $  7,121.09 

The  amount  of  a  judgment  obtained  against 
the  former  sheriff  of  Randolph  [County] 

for  non-resident  tax  of  1818,  is 147.14. 

The  amount  from  non-residents  for  the  two 
preceding    years,    including    back    taxes, 

redemptions,  interest,  &c,  is 38,437.75 

The  amount  from  non-residents'  bank  stock,  is  97-77 

The  amount  from  the  Saline  on  the  Ohio,  is  10,563.09 
The  amount  from  the  Saline  on  Muddy  river,  is  200.00 
The  amount  from  the  sale  of  Lots  in  the  town 

of  Vandalia,  is 5,659.86 

Total  amount  of  money  paid  at  the  Treasury 
between  the  1st  of  January,  182 1,  and  the 
27th  of  December,  1822 $62,226.70" 

The  balance  in  the  treasury  was  $33,661.1 1,2  but  Governor 
Edwards,  in  his  message  of  December  2,  1828,  reported  a 
state  indebtedness  of  $44,140.03   and  taxes  in   Illinois  as 

1.  "Revised  Laws  of  111.,"  1829,  p.  106;  McMaster,  "Rights  of  Man   in 
Am.,"  97. 

2.  "Laws  of  111.,"  1822-23,  p.  222. 


150  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

precisely  eight  times  as  high  as  those  in  Kentucky  which 
were  payable  in  the  same  kind  of  currency.1  The  rage  for 
internal  improvements  was  partly  responsible,  and  for  this 
in  turn  the  wide  dispersion  of  the  settlements  in  Illinois, 
caused  by  the  fact  that  all  public  lands  were  offered  at  the 
same  minimum  price  and  that  the  prairies  were  in  large 
measure  shunned,  furnishes  a  partial  explanation. 

The  second  account  of  the  state,  above  referred  to,  shows 
that  in  1822  it  cost  $151.82  to  make,  a  trip  from  Vandalia 
to  Shawnedtown  and  return,  and  one  from  Vandalia  to 
Kaskaskia  and  return,  to  convey  to  the  capital  some 
money  paid  by  the  United  States  on  the  three  per  cent 
fund  due  the  state.  The  former  trip  occupied  fourteen 
days,  the  latter  eight  days.2 

Governor  Cass'  protection  of  Galena  during  the  Winne- 
bago War  of  1827  may  have  been  influenced  by  its 
uncertain  governmental  status.  In  1828  miners  in  what  is 
now  southwestern  Wisconsin  voted  for  members  of  Con- 
gress from  Illinois,  arfld  in  1829  Galena  was  enumerated 
among  the  thriving  towns  of  Huron  or  Ouisconsin  Terri- 
tory. November  29,  1828,  one  hundred  and  eighty- seven 
inhabitants  of  Galena  and  vicinity  sent  a  memorial  to 
Congress  asking  that  a  separate  territory  be  formed,  the 
territory  to  be  bounded  on  the  south  by  a  line  drawn  due 
west  from  the  southern  point  of  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
Mississippi,  and  by  the  northern  boundary  of  Missouri- 
The  memorial  began:  "The  undersigned,  inhabitants  of 
that  portion  of  the  'Territory  Northwest  of  the  Ohio,'  lying 
north  of  a  due  east  and  west  line  drawn  through  the 
southernmost  end  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  west  of  that 
lake  to  the  British  possessions,  comprehending  the  mining 
district,  more  generally  known  as  the  Fever  River  Lead 

2.   "H.  j.,"  III.,  1828-29,  p.  8. 

I.    "Laws  of  111.,"  1S22-23,  pp.  229-30. 


FIRST    YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  I  5  I 

Mines."  The  petitioners  referred  to  the  violation  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,  and  also  stated  that  they  were  subject 
to  two  separate  governments,  each  some  hundreds  of  miles 
from  them,  and  each  unacquainted  with  their  needs.  The 
petition  was  read  and  tabled.1  It  is  true  that  the  situa- 
tion of  Galena  was  peculiarly  difficult.  No  mail  could  be 
carried  along  the  rude  trail  from  Peoria  to  Galena  during 
the  wet  season,  and  when  the  Illinois  legislature,  seeking 
to  give  relief,  passed  a  bill  for  laying  out  a  road  between 
the  "Illinois  settlements  and  Galena,"  it  was  vetoed  by  the 
governor  and  council  because  the  road  would  pass  through 
lands  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  Indians.  When 
the  river  was  frozen  provisions  were  very  high,  and  mail 
was  sent  forward  from  Fort  Edwards  once  a  month.  These 
conditions  were  more  aggravating  as  the  number  of  inhab- 
itants increased,  and  in  1827,  notwithstanding  the  trouble 
with  the  Winnebago  Indians,  there  were  about  four  thou- 
sand men  at  Galena,  and  they  mined  about  fifteen  times 
as  much  lead  as  had  been  mined  in  1823.  In  January, 
1828,  a  congressional  committee  reported  favorably  on  a 
proposition  to  open  a  road  to  Galena.2  In  a  letter  written 
one  year  later  by  the  delegate  from  Michigan  Territory,  to 
the  committee  on  territories,  the  suggestion  is  made  that 
a  new  territory,  to  be  called  Huron,  should  be  formed, 
because  the  region  at  Galena  was  said  to  have  received 
hundreds  of  settlers  during  the  preceding  summer  and 
to  have  at  the  time  of  writing  ten  thousand  or  more, 
and  government  in  the  lead  region  could  not  be  properly 
carried  on  from  Detroit,  which  was  eight  hundred  or  one 

1.  Tenney,  "Early  Times  in  Wis.,"  in  "Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  I.,  97; 
"Niles'  Register,"  XXXVII.,  53;  "State  Papers,"  No.  35,  20th  Cong.,  2d 
Sess.,  II. 

2.  "Repts.  of  Com.,"  No.  177,  20th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  III.;  Meeker, 
"Early  Hist,  of  the  Lead  Region  of  Wis.,"  in  "Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  VI., 
27S-9. 


152  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

thousand  miles  distant,  by  the  routes  commonly  traveled. 
The  legislature  of  Michigan  was  said  to  be  compelled  to 
meet  in  the  summer  in  order  to  enable  delegates  to  attend 
and  that  was  the  busy  time  at  the  mines.1  A  congressional 
act  of  February,  1829,  provided  for  the  laying  out  of  a 
village  at  Galena.  The  plat  was  not  to  exceed  one  section 
of  land,  no  lot  was  to  be  larger  than  one- fourth  of  an 
acre,  unimproved  lots  were  to  be  sold  at  not  less  than  five 
dollars,  improved  lots  were  to  be  graded,  without  reference 
to  their  improvements,  into  three  grades,  to  sell  at  the  rate 
of  twenty- five,  fifteen,  and  ten  dollars,  respectively,  per 
acre,  the  occupants  having  the  right  of  preemption.2 
Another  mode  ot  relief,  which  the  inhabitants  were  work- 
ing out  for  themselves,  is  described  in  a  Galena  paper  of 
September  14,  1829:  "Mr.  Soulard's  wagon  and  mule 
team  returned,  a  few  days  since,  from  Chicago,  near  the 
southernmost  bend  of  Lake  Michigan;  to  which  place  it 
had  been  taken  across  the  country,  with  a  load  of  lead. 
This  is  the  first  wagon  that  has  ever  passed  from  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  to  Chicago.  The  route  taken  from  the 
mines  was,  to  Ogee's  ferry,  on  Rock  River,  eighty  miles; 
thence  an  east  course  sixty  miles,  to  the  Missionary  estab- 
lishment on  the  Fox  River  of  the  Illinois;  and  thence  a 
north-easterly  course  sixty  miles  to  Chicago,  as  travelled, 
two  hundred  miles.  The  wagon  was  loaded  with  one  ton 
and  a  half  of  lead.  The  trip  out  was  performed  in  eleven, 
and  the  return  trip  in  eight  days.  The  lead  was  taken,  by 
water,  from  Chicago  to  Detroit.  Should  a  road  be  sur- 
veyed and  marked,  on  the  best  ground,  and  the  shortest 
distance,  a  trip  could  be  performed  in  much  less  time. 
And  if  salt  could  be  obtained  at  Chicago,  from  the  New 

1.  "State  Papers,"  No.  66,  20th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  II. 

2.  "Statutes  at  Large,"  IV.,  334. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  I  53 

York  Salt  Works,  it  would  be  a  profitable  and  advantageous 
trade."1 

As  the  life  history  of  an  individual  recapitulates  the 
history  of  the  development  of  a  species,  so  does  the  history 
of  Galena,  in  respect  to  the  difficulties  of  its  early  settlers, 
recapitulate  the  history  of  the  several  parts  of  the  United 
States  in  their  early  days.  As  Illinois  had  sent  petitions 
for  relief  to  the  governments  of  the  Northwest  Territory, 
of  Indiana  Territory,  and  of  the  United  States,  so  did 
Galena  send  similar  petitions  to  the  governments  of  Illinois) 
of  Michigan  Territory,  and  of  the  United  States.  In  each 
case  the  prayers  of  the  petitioners  were  but  partially 
granted.  In  each  case  the  difficulties  from  Indians,  lack  of 
facilities  for  commerce,  distance  from  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, inability  to  secure  lands,  were  gradually  mitigated 
until  the  steady  onward  sweep  of  settlement  engulfed  the 
outlying  region  and  it  ceased  to  be  the  frontier,  and 
turned  its  energies  to  other  questions  —  different,  although 
probably  as  difficult.  Galena,  even  at  the  close  of  1830, 
was  a  frontier  region  on  the  outskirts  of  Illinois  settlement. 

Transportation. 

Transportation  was  long  a  difficult  problem,  although  it 
became  gradually  less  so.  Travel  by  either  water  or  land 
was  slow  and  difficult.  When  a  party  of  about  one  hun- 
dred men,  conducted  by  Colonel  R.  M.  Johnson,  went,  in 
six  or  eight  boats,  from  St.  Louis  to  the  site  of  the  present 
Galena,  in  18 19,  to  make  an  arrangement  with  the  Indians 
which  would  permit  the  whites  to  mine  lead,  the  upward 
voyage  occupied  some  twenty  days.2  Doubtless  the  jour- 
ney of  Edward  Coles  from  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  to 

1.  "Galena  Advertiser,"  Sept.  14,  1829. 

2.  Bonner,  "Life  and  Adventures  of  Beckwourth, "  20,  21.  Written  from 
Beckwourth's  dictation. 

12 


154  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

Illinois,  in  1819,  was  typical  of  that  of  the  better  class  of 
immigrants.  At  the  Virginia  homestead,  slaves,  horses 
and  wagons  were  prepared  for  the  long  journey.  A  trusty 
slave  was  put  in  charge  of  the  caravan  of  emigrant  wagons 
and  started  out  on  the  long  journey  over  the  Alleghanies 
to  Brownsville,  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Coles  started  a  few 
days  later,  overtook  the  party  one  day's  journey  from 
Brownsville,  and  upon  arriving  at  that  place  bought  two 
fiat -bottomed  boats,  upon  which  negroes,  horses  and 
wagons,  with  their  owner,  were  embarked.  The  drunken 
pilot  was  discharged  at  Pittsburg,  and  Coles  acted  as  cap- 
tain and  pilot  on  the  voyage  of  some  six  hundred  miles 
down  the  Ohio  to  a  point  below  Louisville,  whence,  the 
boats  being  sold,  the  journey  was  continued  by  land  to 
Edwardsville,  Illinois.1 

April  5,  1823,  a  party  of  forty-three  started  from  Cin- 
cinnati in  a  keel- boat,  arriving  at  Galena,  June  1,  1823. 
Twenty-two  days  were  required  to  stem  the  flooded 
Mississippi  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  to  St.  Louis,  and 
twenty  of  these  were  rainy  days.2  In  1822  the  English 
settlement  in  Edwards  county  sent  several  flat-boats  loaded 
with  corn,  flour,  beef,  pork,  sausage,  etc.,  to  New  Orleans.3 
Improvement  of  the  Wabash  was  entrusted  to  an  incor- 
porated company  in  1825,  and  several  years  earlier  a  canal 
across  the  peninsula  at  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi  was  contemplated.4 

Many  immigrants  came  overland.  The  following  is 
typical:   "In  the  year  18 19  a  party  of  six  men,  and  families 

1.  Washburne,  "Sketch  of  Edward  Coles, "  48. 

2.  Meeker,  "Early  Hist,  of  the  Lead  Region  of  Wis.,"  in  "Wis.  Hist. 
Soc.  Coll.,"  VI.,  276-9. 

3.  Blaney,  "Excursion  through  the  U.  S.  and  Canada,"  159. 

4.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXVIII.,  168;  Dana,  "Sketches  of  Western  Coun- 
try," 1S19,  154;  "Laws  of  111.  Ter.,"  1817-18,  pp.  '57-64. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF    STATEHOOD.  I  55 

of  three  of  them,  started  from  Casey  County,  Kentucky, 
for  Illinois.  .  .  .  The  first  three  were  young  unmarried 
men,  the  last  three  had  their  wives  and  children  with  them. 
They  came  in  an  old-fashioned  Tennessee  wagon,  that 
resembled  a  flat-boat  on  wheels.  The  younger  readers  of 
this  sketch  can  form  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  curious  and 
awkward  appearance  of  one  of  these  old  fashioned  wagons, 
covered  over  with  white  sheeting,  the  front  and  rear  bows 
set  at  an  angle  of  forty- five  degrees  to  correspond  with 
the  ends  of  the  body,  and  then  the  enormous  quantity  of 
freight  that  could  be  stowed  away  in  the  hole  would 
astonish  even  a  modern  omnibus  driver!  Women,  children, 
beds,  buckets,  tubs,  old  fashioned  chairs,  including  all  the 
household  furniture  usually  used  by  our  log-cabin  ances- 
tors; a  chicken  coop,  with  'two  or  three  hens  and  a  jolly 
rooster  for  a  start,'  tied  on  behind,  while,  under  the  wagon, 
trotted  a  full-blood,  long-eared  hound,  fastened  by  a  short 
rope  to  the  hind  axle.  Without  much  effort  on  your  part, 
you  can,  in  imagination,  see  this  party  on  the  road,  one  of 
the  men  in  the  saddle  on  the  near  horse,  driving;  the  other 
two,  perhaps  on  horseback,  slowly  plodding  along  in  the 
rear  of  the  wagon,  while  the  boys  'walked  ahead,'  with 
rifles  on  their  shoulders  'at  half-mast,'  on  the  lookout  for 
squirrels,  turkey,  deer,  or  'Inj'in.'  "T  Muddy  roads  some- 
times caused  emigrants  to  make  long  detours  in  the 
hope  of  finding  better  ones,  and  if  the  roads  became 
impassable  water  transportation  might  be  resorted  to  when 
the  locality  permitted.2  The  fear  of  breaking  down  was 
omnipresent  and  danger  from  professional  bandits3  was  not 

1.  Henderson,  "Early  Hist,  of  the  Sangamon  Country,"  13. 

2.  Reid,  '  Sketch  of  Enoch  Long,"  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  II.,  61-2. 

3.  "Pub.  No.  S  of  the  111.    State   Hist.  Lib.,"   156;  Strickland,    "Autobi- 
ography of  Peter  Cartwright,"  200- I;  Faux,  "Memorable  Days  in  Am.,"  310. 


156  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

lacking.       There  was   also    danger  of   being   lost   on   the 
enormous  prairies  in  Illinois.1 

The  best  road  from  North  Carolina  to  Indiana,  for  loaded 
wagons,  was  that  which  crossed  the  Blue  Ridge  at  Ward's 
Gap,  in  Western  Virginia,  led  through  East  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky,  and  reached  the  Ohio  River  at  Cincinnati,2  and 
this  was  a  part  of  the  route  for  some  of  the  Illinois  immi- 
grants. Illustrations  of  the  moving  instinct,  the  ever- 
present  desire  to  go  frontierward,  were  constantly  appear- 
ing.3 Although  the  greater  proportion  of  immigrants 
came  by  either  wagon  or  boat,  some  came  on  horseback 
and  some  on  foot.4  One  pioneer  wrote:  "My  mother  was 
a  delicate  woman  and  in  the  hope  of  prolonging  her  life, 
my  father,  in  1830,  broke  up  his  home  at  Windsor,  Con- 
necticut, and  started  overland  for  Jacksonville,  Illinois. 
Most  of  the  household  furniture  was  shipped  by  water,  via 
New  Orleans  and  did  not  reach  its  destination  until  a  year 
afterwards,  six  months  after  our  arrival.  The  wagon  for 
my  mother  was  made  strong  and  wide,  drawn  by  three 
horses,  so  that  a  bed  could  be  put  in  it  and  most  of  the 
way  she  lay  in  this  bed.  Most  of  the  time  the  drive  was 
pleasant  but  over  the  mountains  it  was  rough  and  over  the 
national  corduroy  road  of  Indiana,  it  was  perfectly  hor- 
rible."5 A  journey  was  made  in  1827  in  about  four  weeks 
over"  the  same  route  that  it  had  taken  the  same  traveler 
seven  and  a  half  weeks  to  cover  in  1822.6 

1.  "Reminiscences  of  Levi  Coffin,"  89-99. 

2.  Ibid.,  76. 

3.  Ibid.,  94-5;  Mrs.  Delilah  Mullin- Evans,  in  "Trans,  of  the  McLean  Co. 
(111.)  Hist.  Soc,"  II.,  17;  Hecke,  "Reise  durch  die  Vereinigten  Staaten," 
I.,  37-8. 

4.  Loomis,  "Notes  of  a  Journey  to  the  Great  West,"  pages  unnumbered; 
"Niles'  Register,"  XXII. ,  320. 

5.  "Stories  of  the  Pioneer  Mothers  of  111.,"  MS.  in  111.  State  Hist.  Lib. 

6.  Tillson,  "Reminiscences,"  120. 


FIRST   YEARS    OF   STATEHOOD.  1 57 

Within  the  state  changes  in  facilities  for  transportation 
were  constant.  From  Shawneetown  to  St.  Louis,  by  way 
of  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  passed  the  great  western  road. 
There  was  also  a  road  from  Shawneetown,  by  way  of 
Carmi,  to  Birkbeck's  settlement  in  Edwards  county.1 
Frontier  roads  to  different  places  seem  to  have  been  desig- 
nated by  different  numbers  of  notches  cut  in  the  trees 
along  the  wayside.2  New  roads  were  in  constant  demand. 
In  February,  1821,  the  legislature  authorized  the  building 
of  a  turnpike  road,  one  hundred  feet  wide,  from  the  Mis- 
sissippi, opposite  St.  Louis,  across  the  American  Bottom  to 
the  Bluffs.  Toll  was  to  be  regulated  by  the  county  com- 
missioners, but  it  must  be  not  less  than  twelve  and  one- 
half  cents  for  a  man  and  horse,  twenty- five  cents  for  a  one- 
horse  wagon  or  carriage,  six  and  one- fourth  cents  for  each 
wheel  and  each  horse  of  other  wagons  and  carriages,  six 
and  one -fourth  cents  for  each  single  horse  or  head  of 
cattle,  and  two  cents  for  each  hog  or  sheep.  If  at  any 
time  the  county  should  pay  the  cost  of  the  road,  plus  six 
per  cent,  the  county  should  become  the  owner.3  A  traveler 
writing  late  in  1822  says  that  a  public  road  had  just  been 
opened  between  Vandalia  and  Springfield.4  During  the 
same  year,  Gurdon  Saltonstall  Hubbard,  one  of  the  most 
active  of  the  agents  of  the  American  Fur  Company  in 
Illinois,  established  a  direct  path  or  track  from  Iroquois 
Post  to  Danville.  In  1824  this  path,  which  was  known  as 
"Hubbard's  Trail,"  was  extended  northward  to  Chicago, 
and  southward  to  a  point  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  southwest  of  Danville.  Along  this  trail  trading- 
posts  were  established   at   intervals  of  forty  or  fifty  miles. 

1.  Melish,   "  Information  and  Advice  to  Emigrants,"  1S19,  108. 

2.  Woods,  "  Residence  in  111. ,"  140. 

3.  "Laws  of  111.,"  1820-21,  pp.  94-6. 

4.  Tillson,  "  Reminiscences,  "  54. 


158  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

The  southern  extremity  of  the  trail  was  Blue  Point,  in 
Effingham  county.1  This  became  the  regularly  traveled 
route  between  points  connected  by  it. 

Springfield  was  the  northern  terminus  of  the  mail  route 
early  in  1823,  and  the  next  year  Sangamon  county,  in  which 
the  village  lay,  was  almost  entirely  without  ferries,  bridges, 
or  roads.2  In  1830  mail  was  carried  between  Vincennes 
and  St.  Louis  thrice  a  week;  between  Maysville  and  St. 
Louis,  and  between  Belleville  and  St.  Charles  twice  a 
week.  No  point  in  Illinois,  not  on  one  of  these  routes, 
received  mail  oftener  than  once  a  week.  There  was  at 
this  time  a  mail  route  from  Peoria  to  Galena.3  The  legis- 
latures of  Indiana  and  Illinois  petitioned  Congress  for  an 
appropriation  to  improve  the  mail  route  from  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  to  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  The  length  of  that  part 
of  the  route  which  lay  between  Vincennes  and  St.  Louis 
was  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  but  a  more  direct  route, 
recently  surveyed  by  authority  of  the  legislature  of  Illinois, 
reduced  the  distance  to  one  hundred  and  forty-five  miles. 
The  distance  between  Vincennes  and  St.  Louis  was  made 
up  of  about  one-fourth  of  timber  land  and  three-fourths 
of  prairies,  from  five  to  twenty  miles  across.  "The  settle- 
ments are  therefore  scattered,  and  far  between,  and  confined 
to  the  vicinity  of  the  timbered  land.  More  than  nineteen- 
twentieths  of  the  land,  over  which  the  road  passes,  is  the 
property  of  the  Federal  Government.  To  make  the 
necessary  causeways  and  bridges,  and  to  keep  the  road  in 
a  proper  state  of  repair,  is  beyond  the  capacity  of  the 
people  who  reside  upon  it."     Another  writer  says  of  the 

1.  Hamilton,  "Incidents  and  Events  in  the  Life  of  Gurdon  Saltonstall 
Hubbard,"  136. 

2.  Tillson,  "Reminiscences,"  81;  Strickland,  "Autobiography  of  Peter 
Cartwright,"  250. 

3.  "State  Papers,"  No.  77,  21st  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  III. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF    STATEHOOD.  1 59 

route:  "It  must,  for  many  years,  be  the  channel  of  com- 
munication, through  which  the  Government  shall  transmit, 
and  receive,  all  its  intelligence  relative  to  the  mines  in  the 
region  of  Galena,  and  Prairie  Du  Chien,  the  Military  Posts 
of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  Missouri,  and  their  tributary 
streams,  and  the  whole  northwestern  Indian  frontier."1 

Galena  remained  much  isolated.  A  man  who  had 
horses  and  cattle,  purchased  in  southern  Illinois  and  driven 
to  Galena,  by  way  of  Springfield  and  Peoria,  in  1823,  says 
that  there  was  no  settlement  between  Peoria  and  Fever 
River.  A  year  before,  a  traveler  who  went  from  St.  Louis 
to  Galena,  on  horseback,  arrived  in  time  to  assist  in  com- 
pleting the  second  cabin  in  the  place.2  Two  travelers  who 
walked  from  Upper  Alton  to  Galena,  in  January  and  Feb- 
ruary, 1826,  had  to  camp  out  several  nights,  because  no 
residence  was  in  reach.  Much  of  the  way  no  trail  existed.3 
About  1827  it  was  common  for  men  to  go  with  teams  of 
four  yoke  of  oxen,  and  strong  canvas -covered  wagons 
from  southern  Illinois  to  the  lead  regions.  In  those 
regions  they  spent  the  summer  in  hauling  from  the  mines 
to  the  furnaces  or  from  the  furnaces  to  the  place  of  ship- 
ment, usually  Galena,  and  taking  back  to  the  mines  a  load 
of  supplies.  In  the  fall  the  teamsters  returned  to  their 
homes,  sometimes,  in  the  early  days,  taking  a  load  of  lead 
to  St.  Louis.  These  men  lived  in  their  wagons,  and  cooked 
their  own  food.     The  oxen  lived  by  browsing  at  night.4 

Transportation  rates  can  be  only  approximately  given, 

1.  "S.  Doc,"  No.  28,  21st  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  I. 

2.  Meeker,  "Early  Hist,  of  the  Lead  Region  of  Wis.,"  in  "Wis.  Hist. 
Soc.  Coll.,"  VI.,  278-9. 

3.  Reid,  "Sketch  of  Enoch  Long,"  Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  II.,  67-8. 
See  also  Owen,  in  "Deutsch-Amerikanische  Geschichtsblatfer,"  Jahrgang 
2,  Heft  2,  42. 

4.  Chetlain,  "Recollections  of  Seventy  Years,"  10. 


l6o  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

because  they  varied  with  the  condition  of  the  weather  or 
of  the  roads,  and  were  frequently  agreed  upon  by  a  special 
bargain.  In  1817  steamboats  are  said  to  have  descended 
the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  at  the  rate  of  ten  miles  per 
hour,  and  to  have  charged  passengers  six  cents  per  mile. 
Freight^  by  steamboat,  from  New  Orleans  to  Shippingport 
(Falls  of  the  Ohio),  and  thence  by  boats  to  Zanesville,  was 
about  $6.50  per  100  pounds.1  It  took  about  one  month  to 
make  the  trip  from  New  Orleans  to  Shawneetown — June 
6  to  July  10  in  a  specific  case.  Nine-tenths  of  the  trade 
was  still  carried  on  in  the  old  style- — by  flat-boats,  barges, 
pirogues,  etc.2  In  December,  18 17,  freight  from  Shawnee- 
town to  Louisville  was  $1,123^  per  hundred  weight;  to  New 
Orleans,  $1.00;  to  Pittsburg,  $3.50;  to  Shawneetown  from 
Pittsburg,  $1.00;  from  Louisville,  $0.37^2;  from  New 
Orleans,  $4.50.  The  great  difference  between  the  rates  up 
stream  and  those  down  stream  was  due  to  the  difficulty  of 
going  against  the  current.3  Cobbett  estimated  that  Birk- 
beck's  settlement,  fifty  miles  north  of  Shawneetown,  could 
be  reached  from  the  eastern  seaboard  for  five  pounds 
sterling  per  person.4  In  18 19,  the  passenger  rate,  by  steam- 
boat, from  New  Orleans  to  Shawneetown,  was  $1 10;  the 
freight  rate  $0,043/2  to  $0.06  per  pound,  the  high  charges 
being  attributed  to  a  lack  of  competition,  which  the  many 
new  boats  then  building  were  expected  to  remedy.5  A 
party  of  nine  people  with  somewhat  more  than  six  thou- 
sand pounds  of  luggage,  wishing  to  start  from  Baltimore 

1.  Hulme,  in  Cobbett,  "Year's  Residence  in  the  U.  S.,"  279,  302. 

2.  Birkbeck,  "  Letters  from  111.,"  113;  Birkbeck,  "Jour,  from  Va.  to  111.," 
I33"4- 

3.  Fearon,  "Sketches  of  Am.,"  260,  repeated  in  Kingdom,  "Am.  and  the 
British  Colonies, "  63.  In  the  works  of  Fearon  and  Kingdom  4s.  6ci.  are 
equal  to  $1.00. 

4.  Cobbett,  "A  Year's  Residence  in  the  U.  S.,"  337. 

5.  Birkbeck,  "  Extracts,"  4. 


FIRST    YEARS    OF    STATEHOOD.  l6l 

for  Illinois,  in  July,  1819,  learned  that  the  water  was  so  low 
that  large  boats  could  with  difficulty  pass  from  Pittsburg 
to  Wheeling.  They  accordingly  went  from  Baltimore  to 
Wheeling,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  miles,  by 
land.  They  had  two  wagons  with  six  horses  and  a  driver 
to  each  wagon.  The  price  for  transportation  was  three 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  At  Wheeling  a  contract  was 
made  for  transportation  to  Louisville,  six  hundred  miles 
distance.  For  this,  fifty  dollars  was  paid,  the  passengers 
agreeing  to  help  navigate  the  boat.  At  Louisville  an  ark 
was  bought  for  twenty- five  dollars,  and  two  men  were 
hired  for  eighteen  dollars  and  their  board,  to  take  the  party 
to  Shawneetown,  about  three  hundred  miles  distant.  At 
Shawneetown  the  master  of  a  keel -boat  was  engaged  to 
take  the  luggage  of  six  thousand  pounds  to  a  point  about 
eleven  miles  from  Birkbeck's  settlement,  for  37 }t  cents 
per  hundred  pounds.  The  travelers  proceeded  on  foot.  The 
time  occupied  in  the  journey  was:  From  Baltimore  to 
Wheeling,  sixteen  days;  from  Wheeling  to  Shawneetown, 
thirty-eight  days;  from  Shawneetown  to  the  Birkbeck 
settlement,  four  days.1  A  traveler  in  Illinois,  in  18 19,  said 
that  the  usual  price  of  land  carriage  was  fifty  cents  per 
hundred  pounds  for  each  twenty  miles;  sometimes  higher, 
never  lower,  and  that  it  would  not  pay  to  have  corn  trans- 
ported twenty  miles.2  In  1820,  the  charge  for  carrying 
either  baggage  or  persons  from  Baltimore  to  Wheeling  was 
reported  as  from  live  to  seven  dollars  per  hundred  weight. 
Persons  wishing  to  travel  cheaply  had  their  luggage  trans- 
ported while  they  walked.3 

In    1823    the   following   passenger   rates,  by  steamboat, 
were  quoted:  From  Cincinnati  to  New  Orleans,  $25.00;  to 

1.  Woods,  "Residence  in  Illinois,"  33,  74,  ill,  131,  133,  143-4. 

2.  Faux,  "Memorable  Days  m  Am.,"  315. 

3.  Kingdom,  "Am.  and  the  British  Colonies,"  2. 


1 62  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

Louisville,  $4.00;  to  Pittsburg,  $15.00;  to  Wheeling,  $14.00; 
from  New  Orleans  to  Cincinnati,  $50.00;  from  Louisville  to 
Cincinnati,  $6.00;  from  Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati,  $12.00; 
from  Wheeling  to  Cincinnati,  $10.00.  The  time  quoted 
for  passage  up  stream  was  never  less  than  twice  that  for 
passage  down  stream.1  Early  in  1825  the  Louisiana  Gazette 
(presumably  of  New  Orleans)  reported  that  a  steamboat 
had  made  the  2200  miles  from  Pittsburg  in  sixteen  days,2 
and  a  few  weeks  later  another  steamer  arrived  at  Shipping- 
port,  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  about  two  miles  below  Louis- 
ville, thirteen  days  from  New  Orleans,  this  time  including 
three  days  detention  from  the  breaking  of  a  crank.3  Rates 
quoted  in  1 826,  per  one  hundred  pounds,  were:  From 
Pittsburg  to  St.  Louis,  in  keel-boats,  $1,623/3;  to  Nash- 
ville, $1.50;  to  Louisville,  $0.75;  to  Cincinnati,  $0.62^2  ;  to 
Maysville,  $0.50;  to  Marietta,  $0.40;  to  Wheeling,  $0.18^; 
in  wagons,  from  Pittsburg  to  Philadelphia,  $1.00  to  $1,123^  ; 
from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg,  $3.00;  from  Philadelphia 
to  Wheeling,  $3-50.4  A  Columbus,  Ohio,  editor  declared 
that  it  required  thirty  days  and  cost  $5.00  per  hundred  to 
transport  goods  from  Philadelphia  to  Columbus,  while  it 
required  but  twenty  days  and  $2.50  to  transport  from 
New  York.5  No  explanation  was  given,  but  the  most 
probable  one  is  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal.  Illinois 
buyers  could,  of  course,  take  advantage  of  the  cheaper  rate 
as  well  as  the  inhabitants  of  Columbus.  The  freight 
schedule  agreed  upon  by  the  owners,  masters,  and  agents 
of  steamboats  in  July,  1830,  was,  per  100  pounds,  as 
follows:  Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati,  $0.45  ;  Pittsburg  to  Louis- 
1.    "Niles'  Register,"  XXV.,  95. 


"Cincinnati  Emporium,"  Feb.  3,  1825. 
"Cincinnati  Gazette,"  Apr.  i,  1825. 
"Niles'  Register,"  XXXI.,  58. 
Ibid.,  XXXI.,  38. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  1 63 

ville,  $0.50;  Wheeling-  to  Cincinnati,  $0.40;  Wheeling  to 
Louisville,  $0.45;  Cincinnati  to  Louisville,  $0.12^;  in  the 
reverse  direction  rates  were  the  same,  except  that  the  rate 
from  Louisville  to  Cincinnati  was  $0.16.  Freight  on  pork, 
from  Cincinnati  to  Louisville  was  $0.20  per  barrel,  and  on 
flour  and  light  (probably  meaning  empty)  barrels,  $0.15 
per  barrel.  The  schedule  rates  were  not,  however,  gener- 
ally adhered  to,  many  boats  carrying  freight  at  from  2^ 
to  5  cents  lower  than  the  quoted  rate.1  At  this  time  there 
were  213  steamboats  in  use  in  western  waters — an  increase 
of  about  three-fold  since  1820.2  Improved  transportation 
caused  a  better  market  price  for  produce  in  the  West.  In 
1819,  at  Cincinnati,  flour  sold  at  $1.37  }4  per  barrel,  corn 
at  from  $0.10  to  $0.12  per  bushel,  and  pork  at  $0.10*^ 
per  pound,3  while  in  1830,  in  the  same  market,  flour  from 
wagons  sold  at  $2.65  per  barrel,  or  from  store  at  $3.00; 
corn  at  $0.18  to  $0.20,  and  pork  at  $0.05  per  pound  ($10.00 
to  $10.50  per  barrel).4  The  influence  of  improved  trans- 
portation on  emigration  is  obvious.  In  regard  to  steam- 
boat navigation  it  should  be  noted  that  in  18 17  rates  up- 
stream were  more  than  three  times  as  high  as  rates  down- 
stream, in  1823  the  former  were  less  than  twice  the  latter, 
and  in  1830  the  two  were  about  equal.  During  the  same 
period  the  time  of  up-stream  passage  was  diminished 
more  than  one-half.  Steamboats  had  not  driven  out  the 
ruder  crafts,  but  more  and  more  use  was  being  made  of  the 
more  expeditious  means  of  transportation,  and  its  effect  on 
the  future  economic  activity  of  the  West  could  already  be 
seen. 

Naturally  the  difference  in  price  of  the  same  commodity 

1.  "Cincinnati  Christian  Journal  and  Intelligencer,"  July  27,  1830. 

2.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXXVIII.,  97. 

3.  Ibid.,  XLIV.,  36. 

4.  "Cincinnati  Christian  Journal  and  Intelligencer,"  July  27,  1S30. 


164  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

in  two  different  markets  was  dependent  in  large  measure 
on  the  ease  or  difficulty  of  transportation.  In  the  latter 
part  of  1 8 17,  corn  was  $0.24  to  $0.30  and  wheat  $0.75,  in 
Illinois,  while  corn  was  $0.50  and  wheat  $0.75  at  Cin- 
cinnati.1 In  1825  wheat  was  worth  hardly  $0.25  per 
bushel,  while  it  sold  for  $0.80  to  $0.87^2  in  Petersburg, 
Virginia,  and  flour  was  $6.00  per  barrel  at  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  and  was  scarce  even  at  that  price  in 
Nashville,  Tennessee.  At  the  same  time  corn  sold  for 
from  $0.08  to  $0.10  in  Illinois,  and  for  $1.75  to  $2.00  in 
Petersburg,  Virginia.2  In  1826  wheat  sold  in  Illinois  at 
$°-37/^>  and  in  England  at  $2.00  (nine  shillings).3  In  1829 
flour  was  scarce  at  Galena.  A  supply  from  the  more 
southern  settlements  in  Illinois  sold  at  $8.00  per  barrel, 
and  the  farmers  were  urged  to  bring  more.4  This  was  in 
October.  In  November  flour  was  quoted  at  Galena  at 
$9.00  to  $10.00  per  barrel,  while  it  sold  at  St.  Louis  for 
$4.50  to  $5.50.  In  December,  Cincinnati  flour  was  from 
$10.00  to  $10.50  and  Illinois  flour  from  $8.00  to  $8.50,  at 
Galena,  whereas  in  the  succeeding  August  they  were  $5.00 
and  $4.00,  respectively.  In  November,  1829,  the  one 
article  of  food  that  was  quoted  as  cheaper  at  Galena  than 
at  St.  Louis  was  potatoes.  They  were  $0.25  per  bushel,  at 
Galena,  and  from  $0.37^  to  $°-5°  at  St.  Louis.  Butter 
was  $0.25  to  $0-37  }4  at  Galena,  and  $0.1 2*4  to  $0.20 
at  St.  Louis;  corn,  $0.50  at  Galena,  and  $0.25  to  $0.31  at 
St.  Louis;  beef,  $0.03 ^  to  $0.04^4  at  Galena,  and  $0.01^ 
to  $0.02  at  St.  Louis;  whisky,  $0.62^  per  gallon  at  Galena, 
and  $0.30  to  $0.33  at  St.  Louis.5 

1.  Fearon,  "  Sketches  of  Am.,"  217,  260.  Reprinted  in  Kingdom,  "Am. 
and  the  British  Colonies,"  55,  62. 

2.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXIX.,  165;  "The  Intelligencer"  Petersburg,  Va., 
Mar.  11,  1825;  "Charleston  (S.  C. )  Mercury,"  May  25,  1S25;  "Nashville 
(Tenn.)  Republican,"  Apr.  16,  1825. 

3.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXXI.,  52. 

4.  "  Miners'  Journal, "  Galena,  Oct.  4,  1829. 

5.  Ibid.,  Nov.  3,  1829;  Dec.  15,  1829;  Aug.  14,  1830. 


first  years  ok  statehood.  1 65 

Life  of  the  People. 

Of  the  13,635  persons  who  were  following  some  occu- 
pation in  Illinois  in  1820,  nearly  91  per  cent  (12,395)  were 
engaged  in  agriculture.1  To  this  pursuit  the  state  was 
naturally  well  adapted.  One  of  the  most  observant  of 
German  travelers  in  America  wrote  that  the  meaning  of 
"fertile  land"  was  very  different  in  this  region  from  its 
meaning  in  Germany.  In  America  fertile  land  of  the  first 
class  required  no  fertilizer  for  the  first  century  and  was  too 
rich  for  wheat  during  the  first  decade,  while  fertile  land  of 
the  second  class  needed  no  fertilizer  during  the  first  twelve 
to  twenty  year;,  ^1  its  cultivation.  Bottom-lands  belonged 
to  the  first  class.2  The  prairies  remained  unappreciated 
by  the  Americans,  although  some  foreign  farmers  preferred 
to  settle  in  Illinois,  because  there  they  could  avoid  having 
to  clear  land,  and  could  raise  a  crop  the  first  year,  while 
coal  could  serve  as  fuel,3  and  a  ditch  and  bank  fence, 
requiring  little  wood,  couid  be  constructed,  or  a  hedge 
could  be  grown.4  A  traveler  of  1819  speaks  of  one  of  the 
largest  prairies  as  not  well  adapted  to  cultivation,  because 
of  the  scarcity  of  wood,  and  in  the  fall  of  1825  there  was 

1.  "Twelfth  Census  of  the  U.  S.,  Occupations, "  p.  xxx. 

2.  Duden,  "Nordamerika, "  61. 

3.  Hecke,  "  Reise  durch  die  Vereinigten  Staaten,"  II.,  134-5. 

4.  The  following  describes  a  ditch  and  bank  fence:  "I  very  much  admire 
Mr.  Birkbeck's  mode  of  fencing.  He  makes  a  ditch  4  ft.  wide  at  top,  sloping 
to  1  ft.  wide  at  bottom,  and  4  ft.  deep.  With  the  earth  that  comes  out  of  the 
ditch  he  makes  a  bank  on  one  side,  which  is  turfed  towards  the  ditch.  Then 
a  long  pole  is  put  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  ditch  to  2  ft.  above  the  bank;  this 
is  crossed  by  a  short  pole  from  the  other  side,  and  then  a  rail  is  laid  along 
between  the  forks.  The  banks  were  growing  beautifully,  and  looked  alto- 
gether very  neat  as  well  as  formidable,  though  a  live  hedge  (which  he  intends 
to  have)  instead  of  dead  poles  and  rails,  upon  top,  would  make  the  fence  far 
more  effectual  as  well  as  handsomer."  —  Flulme,  in  Cobbett,  "Year's  Residence 
in  the  U.  S.,"  2S2. 


1 66  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

but  one  house  on  the  way  from  Paris  to  Springfield,  leading 
across  eighty  miles  of  a  prairie  ninety  miles  in  length.1 

It  was  easy  to  obtain  land.  After  1820  it  could  be 
bought  from  the  government  of  the  United  States  at  $1.25 
per  acre,  it  could  be  rented  —  sometimes  for  one  peck  of 
corn  per  acre  per  year2 — ,  or  the  claim  of  a  squatter  could 
be  purchased.  When  Peter  Cartwright  moved  from  Ken- 
tucky to  Illinois  in  1824,  he  gave  as  reasons  for  moving 
the  fact  that  he  had  six  children  and  but  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  of  land,  and  that  Kentucky  land  was  high  and 
rising  in  value;  the  increase  of  a  disposition  in  the  South 
to  justify  slavery;  the  distinction  in  Kentucky  between 
young  people  reared  without  working  and  those  who 
worked;  the  danger  that  his  four  daughters  might  marry 
into  slave  families;  and  the  need  of  preachers  in  the  new 
country.3  The  land  being  obtained,  the  first  cultivation 
was  difficult.  Writers  often  give  the  idea  that  after  a  year 
or  two  the  land  which  had  been  heavily  timbered  was  left 
free  from  trees,  stumps,  or  roots,  but  many  a  pioneer 
plowed  for  twenty  years  among  the  stumps.  Stump  fields 
are  today  no  novelty  in  Illinois,  and  farming  has  not  retro- 
graded. Usually  the  settler's  first  need  was  a  crop,  and  in 
order  to  hasten  its  production  the  trees  were  girdled,  a 
process  which  might  either  precede  or  follow  the  planting, 
according  to  the  time  of  year  in  which  the  immigrant 
arrived.  If  prairie  land  was  plowed  six  horses,  or  their 
equivalent  of  power  in  oxen,  were  required  for  the  first 
breaking,  and  a  summer's  fallow  usually  followed  in  order 
to  allow  the  roots  to  decay.      In  18 19  five  dollars  per  acre 

1.  Ernst  in  "Pub.  No.  S  of  the  111.  State  Hist.  Lib.,"  156;  "Jacksonville 
(111.)  Weekly  Journal,"  Apr.  iS,  1877  (in  "111.  Local  Hist,"  III.,  in  Wis. 
Hist.  Soc.  Lib.) 

2.  Faux,  "Memorable  Days  in  Am.,"  213. 

3.  Strickland,  "Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartwright, "  244. 


FIRST    YEARS    OF    STATEHOOD.  1 67 

was  paid  for  the  first  plowing  of  the  prairie,  and  three  or 
four  dollars  for  the  second.1 

Agricultural  products  exhibited  considerable  variety, 
although  corn  was  the  chief  article  raised,  because  it 
furnished  food  for  man  and  beast,  it  gave  a  large  yield, 
and  it  was  more  easily  harvested  than  wheat.  Wheat  was 
raised  without  any  great  degree  of  care  as  to  its  culture, 
being  frequently  sowed  upon  ground  that  was  poorly  pre- 
pared, and  being  threshed  in  a  most  wasteful  manner.  Both 
wheat  and  flour  were  exported.  Flour- mills,  often  of  a 
rude  sort,  were  found  at  inconveniently  long  distances 
from  each  other.  Ferdinand  Ernst,  traveling  in  18 19, 
found  a  turbine  wheel  at  the  mill  of  Mr.  Jarrott,  a  few 
miles  from  St.  Louis,  and  mentioned  the  fact  as  a  peculiar 
feature.2  Some  of  the  settlers  in  Sangamon  county  had 
to  go  sixty  miles  to  mill  in  1 824.3  In  1830  the  first  flour 
mill  in  northern  Illinois  was  erected  on  Fox  River.  It  was 
operated  by  the  same  power  that  ran  a  saw-mill,  and  the 
millstones  were  boulders,  laboriously  dre'ssed  by  hand.4 
Tobacco  of  excellent  quality  was  grown,  and  sometimes 
formed  an  article  of  export.5  Cotton  was  an  important 
article  for  home  consumption.  In  the  early  years  of  the 
state  hopes  were  entertained  that  cotton  might  become  an 
article  of  export,  but  it  was  found  that  the  crop  required 
so  much  labor  as  to  make  raising  it  in  large  quantities 
unprofitable.  It  was  after  1830,  however,  that  it  ceased 
to  be  cultivated  in  the  state.  It  was  raised  at  least  as  far 
north   as. the   present    Danville,  about   one   hundred    and 

1.  Faux,  "Memorable  Days  in  Am.,"  273. 

2.  Ernst,  in  'Tub.  No.  8  of  the  111.  State  Hist.  Lib.,"  155. 

3.  Strickland,  "Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartwright, "  254. 

4.  Chapman,  Lyde  Grove,  in  "Stories  of  the  Pioneer  Mothers  of  111.,"  in 
MSS.  in  111.  State  Hist.  Lib. 

5.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXIX.,  37;  "111.  Monthly  Mag.,"  I.,  127. 


l68  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

twenty- five  miles  south  of  Chicago.1  A  woman  whose 
parents  moved  to  Sangamon  county  in  1819  says  that 
when  in  that  county  they  raised,  picked,  spun,  and  wove 
their  own  cotton.  The  children  had  to  seed  the  cotton 
before  the  fire  in  the  long  winter  evenings.  The  impor- 
tance of  cotton  as  a  factor  in  inducing  immigration  may 
have  been  considerable.2  Large  quantities  of  castor  oil 
were  made  in  the  state  from  home-grown  castor  beans.3 
Vegetables  were  large,  although  not  always  of  good  flavor.4 
Peaches,  apples,  pears,  quinces  and  cherries  were  culti- 
vated successfully,  while  grapes,  plums,  crabapples,  per- 
simmons, mulberries,  strawberries,  raspberries  and  black- 
berries grew  wild.5  An  agricultural  society  was  formed  in 
1819,  a  chief  purpose  being  to  rid  the  state  of  stagnant 
water.6 

It  is  not  easy  to  exaggerate  the  simplicity  of  the  farm- 
ing of  pioneer  times.  When  one  reads  that  in  18 17  a  log 
cabin  of  two  rooms  could  be  built  for  from  $50.00  to 
$70.00;  a  frame  house,  ten  by  fourteen  feet,  for  $575.00  to 
$665.00;  a  log  kitchen  for  $31.00  to  $35.50;  a  log  stable 
for  $31.00  to  $40.00;  a  barn  for  $80.00  to  $97-75;  a  fence 
for  $0.25  per  rod,  and  a  prairie  ditch  for  $0.29  to  $0.44  per 
rod;  that  a  strong  wagon  cost  $160.00;  that  a  log  house 
eighteen  by  sixteen  feet,  was  made  by  contract  for  $20 
and  ceiled   and   floored   with  sawn  boards  for  $10  more 

1.  "Niles' Register,"  XXII.,  2,  67,  245,386;  "111.  Monthly  Mag.,"  I.,  129 
Loomis,  "Journey  to  the  Great  West  in  1S25,"  ch.  iv.,  pages  unnumbered. 

2.  "  Stories  of  the  Pioneer  Mothers  of  111.,"  in  MSS.  in  111.  State  Hist.  Lib. 

3.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXX.,  287;  "111.  Intelligencer,"  May  18,  1826. 

4.  "111.  Monthly  Mag.,"  I.,  129. 

5.  Ibid,,  I.,  128-9. 

6.  Fearon,  "Sketches  of  America,"  1817,  261,  reprinted  in  Kingdom, 
"Am.  and  the  British  Colonies,"  63;  Birkbeck,  "Letters  from  111."  22,  32-3, 
51-2,  69,  78,  85;  Birkbeck,  "Extracts,"  24-5,  shows  that  a  honey -locust 
hedge  could  be  made  (1819)  for  less  than  12  cents  per  rod. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  1 69 

that  a  cow  and  calf  cost  $12.00  to  $16.00,  and  a  breeding 
sow,  $2.00  or  $3.00;  that  laborers  received  $0.75  per  day 
without  board,  and  a  man  and  two  horses  $1.00  per  day; 
and  that  various  other  useful  articles  could  be  procured  at 
certain  prices,  care  is  needed  in  order  to  avoid  the  conclu- 
sion that  an  immigrant  must  have  had  several'  dollars,  if 
not  a  few  hundreds  of  them.  This  need  for  care  is  increased 
by  the  fact  that  the  most  detailed  statistical  data  for  early 
Illinois  is  given  by  Birkbeck  or  his  visitors,  and  is  appli- 
cable to  the  English  settlement  in  Edwards  county — a 
settlement  with  enough  unique  features  to  make  the  data 
almost  more  of  an  obstacle  than  a  help.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  many  immigrants  before  1 820  had  only  enough  money 
to  make  the  first  payment  on  their  land  ($80.00),  or  after 
July  1,  1820,  only  enough  to  buy  the  minimum  tract 
offered  for  sale  ($100.00),  while  in  both  periods  hundreds  had 
not  even  as  much  money  as  $80.00  or  $100.00,  and  had  to 
become  squatters.  A  log  house,  and  practically  all  of  the 
first  houses  were  of  logs,  was  usually  built  without  the 
expenditure  of  one  cent  in  cash,  being  erected  by  the 
family  which  was  to  occupy  it,  or,  if  neighbors  were  within 
reach,  on  the  '  frolic"  system.  Ceilings  and  floors  were 
both  rare,  and  if  a  floor  existed  it  was  usually  made  of 
puncheons.  The  number  of  pioneers  who  actually  paid 
as  much  as  $31.00  for  a  log  stable  must  have  been  small 
indeed.  First  fences  were  often  of  brush,  or  brush  and 
logs,  and  many  times  crops  were  raised  unfenced.  Terri- 
torial laws  prohibited  allowing  stock  to  run  at  large  during 
the  crop  season.  An  immigrant  often  brought  his  cow  and 
sow,  and  if  not  he  either  did  without,  which  in  the  latter 
case  was  small  privation  in  a  region  almost  crowded  with 
game,  or  secured  the  desired  animals  by  barter  or  by 
working  for  a  few  days.  Men  frequently  traded  work,  but 
the  payment  of  cash  wages  was  rare,  the  cheapness  of 
13 


170  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

land  and  the  ease  of  securing  a  living  leaving  small 
inducement  to  anyone  to  become  a  day  laborer;1  while 
for  the  same  reason  those  who  were  professional  laborers 
were  often  of  an  undesirable  type.2  Foreigners  were  some- 
times shocked  at  the  utter  carelessness  of  Illinois  farmers. 
A  soil  of  great  fertility,  a  region  so  abundantly  supplied 
with  game  and  wild  products  as  to  make  it  almost  possible 
to  live  from  the  forest  alone,  combined  with  a  lack  of 
efficient  means  of  transportation,  made  such  a  temptation 
to  a  life  of  idle  ease  as  many  pioneers  did  not  resist.  Be 
it  remembered,  also,  that  although  towns,  retail  trade, 
and  export  trade  had  begun  in  Illinois  by  1830,  these 
changes  were  not  simultaneous  throughout  the  state.  As 
1830  closed  Illinois  still  had  squatters  many  miles  from  a 
mill,  it  still  had  Indians,  it  still  had  unbridged  streams,  it 
still  had  regions  far  from  a  market — in  a  word,  it  had  still 
persisting  in  some  part  of  its  wide  extent  each  of  the  ills 
that  had  at  various  times  confronted  it  in  respect  to 
personal  danger  and  lack  of  inducements  to  farmers.  The 
minority  of  really  progressive  farmers  overcame  the  diffi- 
culties confronting  them  by  raising  cattle  or  hogs  and 
driving  them  to  distant  markets,  the  price  received  being 
almost  clear  profit,  or  by  constructing  their  own  boats  and 
shipping  their  produce.3 

Although  the  great  majority  of  the  population  of  Illinois 
was  engaged  in  agriculture,  there  were  salt  works  in  the 
southeast  and  lead  mines  in  the  northwest.  The  salt 
industry  was  important.  Far  the  greater  part  of  the  salt 
made  in  the  state  was  made  at  the  Gallatin  county  saline, 
near  Shawneetown.  In  18 19  the  indefinite  statement  was 
made   that  these  springs  furnished   between  200,000  and 

1.  Birkbeck,  "Jour,  from  Va.  to  111.,"  36;  Duden,  " Nordamerika, "  319. 

2.  Faux,  "Memorable  Days  in  Am.,"  315. 

3.  Birkbeck,    "Letters  from  111.,"  35-6. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  171 

300,000  bushels  of  salt  annually,  the  salt  being  sold  at  the 
works  at  from  fifty  to  seventy- five  cents  per  bushel.1  In 
1822,  the  price  of  salt  in  Illinois  was  reported  to  have 
fallen  from  $1.25  to  $0.50,  because  of  the  discovery  of 
copious  and  strong  salt  wells.2  The  next  year  a  strong 
well  was  reported  twenty  miles  east  of  Carlyle.3  In  1825, 
a  visitor  to  the  Vermilion  county  saline  found  twenty 
kettles  in  operation,  producing  about  one  hundred  bushels 
of  salt  per  week.4  In  1828,  an  official  report  of  the  super- 
intendent of  the  Gallatin  county  saline  stated  that  about 
100,000  bushels  of  salt  was  made  annually,  and  sold  at 
from  $0.30  to  $0.50  per  bushel.  The  lessees  paid  $2,160.50 
rent  during  the  year.5  In  1830,  the  salt  works  in  Gallatin 
county  had  a  capital  of  $50,000;  a  product  of  from  100,000 
to  130,000  bushels,  selling  at  from  $0.40  to  $0.50;  and  three 
hundred  employees.  The  saline  in  Vermilion  county  had 
a  capital  of  $3500;  a  product  of  3000  to  4000  bushels, 
selling  at  $1.25  to  $1.50  per  bushel;  and  eight  employees. 
The  works  in  Jackson  county  produced  3000  to  4000 
bushels,  selling  at  $0.75  to  $1.00;  and  had  from  six  to 
eight  employees.  The  difference  in  price  is  noteworthy  as 
indicating  what  must  have  been  the  difficulty  of  transport- 
ing salt  from  Gallatin  county  to  either  Vermilion  or  Jackson 
counties.  At  the  Gallatin  county  works  fuel  was  becoming 
scarce  and  water  had  to  be  carried  some  distance  in  pipes, 
thus  increasing  the  cost  of  production.  At  the  springs  in 
Indiana  salt  was  $1.25  per  bushel,  and  in  Kentucky  it  was 
$0.50  to  $1.00.     The  states  of  New  York,  Virginia,  Massa- 

1.  Mackenzie,  "View  of  the  U.  S.,"  1S19,  29S. 

2.  "Niles'  Register, "  XXII.,  112. 

3.  Ibid.,  XXV.,  272. 

4.  Loomis,  "Notes  of  a  Journey  to  the  Great  West  in  1825,"  ch.  iv. ,  pa^es 
unnumbered. 

5.  "H.J."  (111.),  1828-29,  63. 


172  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

chusetts  and  Ohio,  respectively,  produced  more  salt  than 
did  Illinois.1 

The  lead  industry  at  Galena  was  still  in  its  infancy, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  richness  of  the  mines 
was  early  known.2  In  1822,  a  number  of  persons  went  to 
Galena  from  Sangamon  county.3  For  some  years  it  was 
a  common  practice  to  go  to  the  mines  in  the  summer  and 
return  to  the  older  settlements  for  the  winter.4  The  popu- 
lation of  Galena  was  74  in  August,  1823 ;5  about  100  on 
July  1,  1825;  151  on  December  31,  1825;  194  on  March 
31,  1826;  406  on  June  30,  1826;6  and  1000  to  1500  in 
1 S29.7  In  1826  a  part  of  Lord  Selkirk's  French- Swiss 
colony  on  the  Red  River  moved  to  Galena  and  became 
farmers  in  that  region.8  The  rush  to  the  lead  region  began 
in  1826  and  became  intense  in  the  next  year.9  In  [S27,  a 
rude  log  hut,  sixteen  by  twenty  feet,  rented  for  $35.00  per 
month.  Galena  had  then  about  two  hundred  log  houses,10 
and  in  the  same  year  the  first  framed  house  was  raised.11 
In  July,  1828,  five  hundred  lead  miners  were  wanted  at 
$17.00  to  $25.00  and  board  per  month.12 

1.  "State  Papers,"  No.  55,  21st  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Vol.  III.;  "Niles'  Reg- 
ister," XX  VIII.,  161. 

2.  "Niks'  Register,"  XXII.,  226. 

3.  Parkison,  "  Pioneer  Life  in  Wis.,"  in  "  Wis.  Hist.  Soc,  Coll.,  "  II.,  328-9- 

4.  Owen,  "Urns  Jahr  1819  und  1829,"  in  "Deutsch-Amerikanische  Ges. 
chichtsblatter, "  Jahrgang  2,  Heft  2,  S.  42. 

5.  Meeker,  "Early  Hist,  of  the  Lead  Region,"  in  "Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.," 
VI.,  280. 

6.  "Pub.  Lands,"  IV,  800. 

7.  "  Narrative  of  Morgan  L.  Martin,"  in  "Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  XL,  398. 

8.  Chetlain,  "  Recollections  of  Seventy  Years, "  6;  Mrs.  Adile  Gratiot,  in 
"Early  111.  Towns,"  Lib.  of  Chicago  Hist.  Soc. 

9.  Parkison,  "Pioneer  Life  in  Wis.,"  in  "  Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  II.,  329. 

10.  "Ex.  Doc,"  No.  277,  20th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  Vol.  VII. 

11.  "  Shattuck  Memorials,"  233-4. 

12.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXXIV.,  344. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF   STATEHOOD.  1 73 

A  pursuit  that  was  once  common  and  profitable  is 
described  by  a  lawyer  who  traveled  the  first  Illinois  circuit, 
consisting  of  the  counties  of  Greene,  Sangamon,  Peoria, 
Fulton,  Schuyler,  Adams,  Pike  and  Calhoun,  in  1827,  as 
follows:  "On  this  circuit  we  found  but  little  business  in 
any  of  the  counties — parties,  jurymen  and  witnesses  were 
reported  in  all  the  counties  after  Peoria,  as  being  absent 
bee  and  deer  hunting — a  business  that  was  then  profitable, 
as  well  as  necessary  to  the  sustenance  of  families  during 
the  winter."1 

Not  until  after  1830  was  a  common  school  system  with 
effective  provision  for  its  support  established,  although 
subscription  schools  existed  some  years  before  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  Instruction  given  in  the  earliest 
schools  was  slight,  and  in  18 18  a  most  competent  observer 
declared  that  he  believed  that  in  Missouri  "at  least  one- 
third  of  the  schools  were  really  a  public  nuisance,  and  did 
the  people  more  harm  than  good;  another  third  about 
balanced  the  account,  by  doing  about  as  much  harm  as 
good;  and  perhaps  one-third  were  advantageous  to  the 
community  in  various  degrees.  Not  a  few  drunken,  pro- 
fane, worthless  Irishmen  were  perambulating  the  country, 
and  getting  up  schools;  and  yet  they  could  neither  speak, 
read,  pronounce,  spell,  or  write  the  English  language."2 
These  schools  closely  resembled  those  of  Illinois.  School- 
books  were  rare  and  children  carried  to  school  whatever 
book  they  chanced  to  have,  the  Old  Testament  with  its 
long  proper  names  sometimes  serving  in  lieu  of  a  chart  or 
primer.3  In  some  schools  pupils  studied  aloud.  Reading, 
writing,  spelling  and  arithmetic  were  the  only  branches 
commonly  taught,  although  as  early  as  1806  surveying  was 

1.  "Jacksonville  (111.)  Weekly  Journal,"  Apr.  iS,  1877. 

2.  Babcock,  "Memoir  of  John  Mason  Peck,"  123. 

3.  Peck,  "  'Father  Clark';  or,  The  Pioneer  Preacher,"  240. 


174  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

taught  in  a  "seminary"  near  the  present  Belleville.1  In 
1827  Rock  Spring  Seminary,  now  Shurtleff  College,  was 
opened  by  Baptists,  and  the  following  year  instruction  was 
begun  in  what  was  to  become  McKendree  College  (Meth- 
odist).2 The  teacher  of  the  first  school  in  McLean  county 
(1825)  received  $2.50  per  pupil  for  the  term  of  four 
months.3  The  next  year  a  teacher  in  Jacksonville  was  to 
be  paid  in  cash  or  produce,  or  in  pork,  cattle,  or  hogs  at 
cash  prices,  and  to  pay  board  in  similar  commodities  at 
the  rate  of  one  dollar  per  week.  This  included  washing, 
fuel  and  lights.  School  was  open  ten,  and  often  twelve, 
hours  per  day.4 

Religious  societies  were  early  organized,  but  the  building 
of  churches  was  not  then  common.  In  1796  a  Baptist 
society  was  organized,  and  previous  to  this  time  both 
Baptists  and  Methodists,  without  organized  societies,  had 
united  in  holding  prayer-meetings  in  which  the  Bible 
and  published  sermons  were  read,  prayers  offered,  and 
hymns  sung.5  Before  the  close  of  the  century  the  Meth- 
odists organized.  The  Presbyterians  were  prominent  in 
the  early  years  of  statehood,  but  in  1818  they  were  just 
beginning  their  work  in  Illinois.6  Meetings  were  usually 
held  in  private  houses  until  such  time  as  the  congregation 
felt  that  a  church  building  should  be  erected,  or  at  least 
until  some  one  felt  the  need,  for  the  first  church  was 
sometimes  built  by  a  few  individuals.7  Ministers  were  of 
two  types  —  those  who  devoted  all  of  their  time  to  relig- 
ious work  and  traveled  over  large  areas,  and  those  who 

1.  Reynolds,  "Illinois  —  My  Own  Times,"  59. 

2.  Babcock,  "Memoir  of  John  Mason  Peck,"  229. 

3.  "Trans,  of  the  McLean  Co.  (111.)  Hist.  Soc.,"  II.,  19. 

4.  "Jacksonville  (111.)  Weekly  Journal,"  Apr.  18,  1877. 

5.  Peck,  in  Reynolds,  "Pioneer  Hist,  of  111.,"  259. 

6.  Ibid.,  272-3. 

7.  Strickland,  "Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartwright,"  3S6-7. 


FIRST   YEARS   OF    STATEHOOD.  1 75 

combined  ministerial  duties  with  farming,  hunting;,  or 
some  other  frontier  occupation.  Neither  class  received 
much  money.  Peter  Cartwright,  one  of  the  most  famous 
pioneer  preachers,  received  $40  one  year  (1824-25)  and 
$60  the  next  —  and  this  he  considered  good  wages.1 
Pioneer  energy  was  displayed  in  the  overcoming  of 
difficulties.  For  more  than  ten  years  the  Baptists  held 
meetings  on  alternate  months  at  two  places  thirty -six 
miles  apart,  and  several  families  regularly  traveled  that 
distance  to  the  two-days'  meeting,  even  in  unfavorable 
weather  —  and  this,  too,  after  Illinois  had  become  a  state.2 
In  1829,  the  Presbyterians,  true  to  their  missionary  spirit, 
occupied  the  extreme  frontier  at  Galena.3  Catholicism 
increased  but  slowly.4  Divisions  such  as  were  found  in 
the  East  or  South  reached  Illinois,  and  at  one  time  the 
Baptists  were  divided  into  three  factions,  which  had  about 
the  same  kind  of  fraternal  relations  as  the  Jews  and  the 
Samaritans.  The  chief  questions  for  contention  were 
whether  or  not  missionaries  should  be  sent  out  by  the 
church  and  whether  fellowship  with  slaveholders  should 
be  maintained.5  An  association  of  anti-slavery  Baptists 
was  formed,  as  also  Bible  societies  and  temperance  socie- 
ties.6 Camp-meetings,  with  their  well-known  phenomena, 
were  common  in  the  early  years  of  statehood,  and  it  is  no 
reflection  upon  their  value  to  say  that  they  were  one  of 
the  chief  diversions  for  the  pioneers. 

1.  Strickland,  "Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartwright,"  254. 

2.  Babcock,  "Memoir  of  John  M.  Peck,"  96-7. 

3.  Reynolds,  "Illinois  —  My  Own  Times,"  128. 

4.  Ibid.,  1 16-7. 

5.  Babcock,  "Memoir  of  John  M.  Peck,"  94-5. 

6.  Ibid.,  183,  et  stq.,  203,  209. 

In  general,  on  the  subject  of  religion  in  early  Illinois,  see:  Peck,  in  Rey- 
nolds, "  Pioneer  Hist,  of  111.,"  253-75,  and  the  above  mentioned  works. 


C  H  APTER   VI. 

Slavery  in   Illinois  As  Affecting 
Settlement. 

SLAVERY,  as  well  as  indentured  servitude,  existed  in 
Illinois  as  late  as  1845,1  and  the  "Black  Laws"  of  the 
state  were  repealed  on  February  7,  1865.2  From  1787 
until  years  after  1830  the  slavery  question  was  an  unsettled 
one.  In  addition  to  the  arguments  for  or  against  the 
institution  that  were  used  everywhere,  the  pro -slavery 
party  in  Illinois  asserted  that  as  the  Ordinance  of  1787 
guaranteed  to  the  French  inhabitants  their  property,  the 
French  could  hold  slaves,  and  that  as  all  citizens  of  a  state 
had  equal  rights  other  persons  in  Illinois  could  hold 
slaves.  The  reply  was  that  the  Ordinance  plainly  forbade 
slavery.3 

Whatever  the  merits  of  the  argument,  slavery  did  exist 
in  Illinois.  The  fear  of  the  French  that  they  might  lose 
their  slaves,  and l  the  desire  to  attract  slaveholders'  to 
Illinois,  led  to  determined  and  repeated  efforts  to  legalize 
slavery.  Early  in  1796  a  petition  was  sent  from  Kaskaskia 
to  Congress,  praying  that  the  anti- slavery  article  in  the 
Ordinance  of  1787  might  be  either  repealed  or  so  altered 
as  to  permit  the  introduction  of  slaves  from  the  original 
states  or  elsewhere  into  the  country  of  Illinois,  that  a  law 
might  be  enacted  permitting  the  introduction  of  such 
slaves  as  servants  for  life,  and   that   it   might  be  declared 

1.    Harris,  "Negro  Servitude  in  111.,"  116-9,  note  3,  p.  118. 

2.    "Public  Laws"  (111.),  1S65,  105. 

5.  The  question  of  the  binding  effect  of  the  Ordinance  received  much  atten- 
tion, especially  from  state  courts,  but  early  petitions  show  that  the  discussion 
was  not  early  important.  In  general,  see  Haight,  "Ordinance  of  1787,"  in 
"Mich.  Tol.  Sci.  Ass'n  Pub.,"  II.,  343-402;  Cooley,  "Michigan,"  137-9; 
YVashburne,  "Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,"  67-71. 

176 


SLAVERY   AS   AFFECTING   SETTLEMENT.  1 77 

for  what  period  the  children  of  such  servants  should  serve 
the  masters  of  their  parents.  This  petition  was  signed  by 
four  men,  including  some  of  the  largest  landowners  in  Illi- 
nois, but  as  the  petition,  while  purporting  to  come  from 
Illinois  alone,  concerned  the  entire  Northwest  Territory,  as 
there  was  no  indication  that  the  four  petitioners  represented 
Illinois  sentiment,  and  as  the  congressional  committee  was 
informed  that  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  territory  did 
not  desire  the  proposed  change,  the  prayer  of  the  petition 
was  denied.1 

In  1800,  two  hundred  and  sixty- eight  inhabitants  of 
Illinois,  chiefly  French,  petitioned  Congress  to  repeal  the 
anti- slavery  provision  of  the  Ordinance,  stating  that  many 
of  the  inhabitants  were  crossing  the  Mississippi  with  their 
slaves.  The  petition  was  not  considered.2  A  similar 
request,  presented  late  in  1802,  was  twice  reported  upon 
by  committees,  one  report  (Randolph's)  declaring  that  the 
growth  of  Ohio  proved  that  a  lack  of  slavery  would  not 
seriously  retard  settlement,  while  the  other  was  in  favor  of 
suspending  the  anti -slavery  article  for  ten  years,  the  male 
descendants  of  immigrating  slaves  to  be  free  at  the  age  of 
wenty-five  years,  and  the  females  at  twenty-one.3  In 
1805  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  respective  houses 
of  the  Indiana  legislature  petitioned  for  the  repeal  of  the 
anti -slavery  article,  and  this  petition  was  closely  followed 
by  a  memorial  from  Illinois  expressing  the  hope  that  the 
general  government  would  not  pass  unnoticed  the  act  of 
the  last  legislature  authorizing  the  importation  of  slaves 
into  the  territory.  It  violated  the  Ordinance,  the  memo- 
rialists declared,  and   although   they  desired   slavery  they 

1.  "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  6S-9;  "  Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  447-52,  452-5- 

2.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,  "  II.,  455-61 ;  "Annals of  Cong., "6th  Cong.,  735. 

3.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  461-70;  "A.  S.  P.  Misc.,"  I.,  387;  "Annals 
of  Cong.,"  8th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  1023-4;  ibid.,  9th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  466-8. 


178  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

professed  themselves  to  be  law-abiding.1  A  committee 
report  on  the  petition  and  memorial  recommended  that 
permission  to  import  slaves  into  Indiana  (then  including 
Illinois)  for  ten  years  be  granted,  in  order  that  the  evil 
effects  of  slavery  might  be  mitigated  by  its  dispersion,  but 
no  legislation  resulted  from  the  report,2  and  the  next  year 
petitioning  was  resumed.  The  legislature  sent  resolutions 
asking  for  the  suspension  of  the  anti-slavery  article,  and 
elaborating  the  argument  for  such  suspension.  A  com- 
mittee of  which  the  territorial  delegate  from  Indiana  was 
chairman,  presented  a  favorable  report.3 

In  September,  1807,  a  petition  for  the  suspension  of  the 
anti-slavery  article  was  sent  to  Congress  from  the  Indiana 
legislature.  It  was  signed  by  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  later 
author  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  but  then  Speaker  of 
the  territorial  House  of  Representatives,  and  resident  in 
what  was  to  become  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  by  the 
president  pro  tan.  of  the  Legislative  Council.  Action  in 
committee  was  adverse,4  Congress  being;  then  busied  with 
the  question  of  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade. 

During  the  territorial  period  in  Illinois  (1809- 181S),  the 
slavery  question  was  not  much  agitated.  The  Constitution 
of  1 8 18  provided  that  slaves  could  not  be  thereafter  brought 
into  the  State,  except  such  as  should  be  brought  under 
contract  to  labor  at  the  Saline  Creek  salt  works,  said  con- 
tract to  be  limited  to  one  year,  although  renewable,  and 
the  proviso  to  be  void  after  1825,  but  existing  slavery  was 
not  abolished,  and   existing   indentures  —  and   some   were 

1.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  476-83,  498-506. 

2.  Ibid.,  II.,  494-7;  "A.  S.  P.,  Misc.,"  I.,  450;  "Annals  of  Cong., "9th 
Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  293,  466-8. 

3.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  507-10;  "A.  S.  P.,  Misc.,"  I.,  467,  477; 
"Annals  of  Cong.,"  9th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  375,  482. 

4.  "Ind.  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,"  II.,  515-21;  "A.  S.  P.,  Misc.,"  I.,  484;  "Annals 
of  Cong.,"  10th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  23,  et  set/.,  816. 


SLAVERY  AS  AFFECTING  SETTLEMENT.      1 79 

for  ninety-nine  years1  —  should  be  carried  out.  Male 
children  of  slaves  or  indentured  servants  should  be  free  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one  and  females  at  eighteen.2  In  Con- 
gress, as  has  been  seen,  Tallmadge,  of  New  York,  objected 
to  admitting  Illinois  before  she  abolished  slavery,  but  his 
objection  was  ineffectual. 

In  March,  18 19,  a  slave  code  was  enacted.  Any  black 
or  mulatto  coming  into  the  State  was  required  to  file  with 
the  clerk  of  a  circuit  court  a  certificate  of  freedom.  Slaves 
should  not  be  brought  into  the  state  for  the  purpose  of 
emancipation.  Resident  negroes,  other  than  slaves  and 
indentured  servants,  must  file  certificates  of  freedom. 
Slaves  were  to  be  whipped  instead  of  fined,  thirty- nine 
stripes  being  the  maximum  number  that  might  be  inflicted. 
Contracts  with  slaves  were  void.  Not  more  than  two 
slaves  should  meet  together  without  written  permission 
from  their  masters.  Any  master  emancipating  his  slaves 
must  give  a  bond  of  $1000  per  head  that  such  emancipated 
slaves  should  not  become  public  charges,  failure  to  give 
such  a  bond  being  punishable  by  a  fine  of  $200  per  head. 
Colored  people  must  present  passes  when  traveling.3 

Stringent  as  was  the  code  of  18 19,  it  was  of  a  type 
that  was  common  in  the  slave  states.  Its  passage  may 
have  kept  some  negroes,  both  free  and  slave,  from  coming 
into  the  state  upon  their  own  initiative  without  certificates 
of  freedom.  From  18 10  to  1820  the  number  of  slaves  in 
Illinois  increased  from  168  to  917,  Illinois  being  the  only 
state  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  having  an  increase 
in  the  number  of  slaves  during  the  decade,  although  in 
the  Territory  of  Missouri,  during  this  time,  the  number 
increased  from  about   3000  to  over  10,200.     At  the  same 

1.  Harris,  "Negro  Servitude  in  111.,"  1 1,  note  3. 

2.  Poore,  "Charters  and  Constitutions,"  Pt.  I.,  445-6. 

3.  "Revised  Laws  of  111.,"  1833,  457-62. 


180  SETTLEMENT  OF   ILLINOIS. 

time  the  number  of  free  blacks  in  Illinois  decreased  from 
about  600  to  some  450,  while  they  increased  in  Indiana 
from  nearly  400  to  over  1200.  Of  the  slaves  in  Illinois  in 
1820  precisely  500  were  in  the  counties  of  Gallatin  and 
Randolph,  the  former  being  the  center  of  the  salt- making 
industry,  and  the  latter  the  seat  of  the  early  French  settle- 
ment at  Kaskaskia.1 

Whether  the  anti -slavery  clause  of  the  Ordinance  of 
1787  freed  the  slaves  of  the  old  French  settlers  was  long  a 
disputed  question,  and  it  is  certain  that  a  strict  construc- 
tion of  the  Illinois  Constitution  of  18 18  made  further 
importation  of  slaves  illegal.  Many  slave-owners  passed 
through  southern  Illinois  to  Missouri,  because  the  main 
road  for  emigration  by  land  to  that  territory  crossed  the 
Ohio  River  at  Shawneetown.  Many  of  the  slaves  who 
produced  the  large  increase  in  the  number  of  slaves  in 
Missouri  from  18 10  to  1820  must  have  gone  over  this  route. 
In  1820  more  than  one-seventh  of  the  population  of 
Missouri  was  slave.2  The  people  of  Illinois  could  not  fail 
to  see  that  they  were  losing  a  certain  class  of  emigrants — 
the  prosperous  slaveholders.  The  loss  became  greater  as 
the  likelihood  of  Missouri's  admittance  as  a  slave  state 
increased.  As  early  as  1820  there  was  a  rumor  of  the 
formation  of  a  party  in  Illinois  to  introduce  slavery  into 
the  state  in  a  legal  manner.3  The  next  year  an  editorial 
in  a  leading  newspaper  of  Illinois  said:  "Will  the 
admission  of  slavery  in  a  new  state  tend  to  increase  its 
population?  —  is  a  question  which  has  been  of  late  much 
discussed  both  within  and  without  this  state.  It  has  been 
contended  that  its  admission  would  induce  the  emigration 
of  citizens  of  states  as  well  where  slavery  was,  as  where  it 

1.  "Ninth  Census  of  U.  S.,  Population  and  Social  Statistics,"  5,  7,  24-5; 
Melish,  "Geog.  Uesc.  of  the  U.  S.,"  1822,  359. 

2.  "Ninth  Census  of  U.  S.,  Population  and  Social  Statistics,"  3,  7. 

3.  J.  Q.  Adams,  "Memoirs,"  V.,  9. 


SLAVERY   AS   AFFECTING   SETTLEMENT.  l8l 

was  not  tolerated  —  that  while  it  would  attract  the  attention 
of  the  wealthy  southern  planter,  it  would  not  deter  the 
industrious  northern  farmer."  The  editor  cites  Ohio  and 
Kentucky  as  proof  against  the  above  argument.  In  1810 
Ohio  had  a  population,  in  round  numbers,  of  230,700  and 
Kentucky  one  of  406,500;  in  1820  Ohio  had  581,400,  while 
Kentucky  had  563,300,  giving  a  difference  in  favor  of  Ohio 
of  over  18,000;  and  an  access  of  gain  during  the  decade, 
in  favor  of  Ohio,  of  93,847.  "We  are  willing  to  take 
into  consideration  the  unsettled  titles  of  land  in  the  last- 
mentioned  state  [Kentucky],  and  admit  that  in  this  respect 
Ohio  had  a  decided  advantage  —  we  will  therefore  deduct 
the  fraction  of  93,847,  believing  it  equivalent  to  the  loss  of 
population  from  this  cause  —  there  is  still  a  difference  of 
100,000." J  The  editor's  figures  for  18 10  were  correct  and 
those  for  1820  were  approximately  so.  It  is  also  true, 
and  in  line  with  his  argument,  that  during  the  same  decade 
Indiana  showed  an  increase  from  24,500  to  147,200,  while 
Missouri's  increase  was  from  20,800  to  66,500;  the 
increase  in  Illinois  being  between  the  two  in  proportion  of 
increase  —  from  12,282  to  5 5, 162. 2  The  passing  of  the 
slaveholders  to  Missouri  continued  and  the  discussion  of 
the  slavery  question  became  animated. 

In  the  gubernatorial  election  of  1822  there  were  four 
candidates  for  governor,  two  being  anti- slavery  and  two 
pro-slavery  in  belief.  Edward  Coles,  from  Virginia,  an 
anti -slavery,  man,  was  elected  by  a  plurality  of  but  a  few- 
votes.  His  -lection  was  due  to  a  division  in  the  ranks  of 
the  opposite  party  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  pro- 
slavery  party  polled  over  5300  votes,  while  the  anti-slavery 
party  polled  only  some  3300. 3     In  his  message  of  Decem- 

1.  "Illinois  Intelligencer  '  (Vandalia),  Apr.  24,  1821. 

2.  "Ninth  Census  of  the  U.  S. ,  Population  and  Social  Statistics,"  3. 

3.  The  vote  for  governor  given  by  W  H.  Brown,  "Early  Movement  in 
Illinois  for  the  Legalization  of  Slavery,"  ("Fergus  Hist.  Ser.,"  No.  4,  p.  15), 


1 82  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

ber  5,  1822,  Governor  Coles  strongly  urged  the  passage  of 
a  law  to  prevent  kidnapping1 — then  a  regular  trade. 
This  was  referred  to  a  select  committee  which  reported  as 
follows:  "Your  committee  have  carefully  examined  the 
laws  upon  the  subject,  and  with  deep  regret  announce 
their  incapability  of  devising  a  more  effectual  plan  than 
the  one  already  prescribed  by  law  for  the  suppression  of 
such  infamous  crimes.  It  is  believed  that  the  benevolent 
views  of  the  executive  and  the  benign  purposes  of  the 
statutes  can  only  be  realized  by  the  redoubled  diligence 
of  our  grand  juries  and  our  magistrates,  aided  by  the  well- 
directed  support  of  all  just  and  good  men."2  The  legis- 
lature was  politically  opposed  to  the  governor,  and  the 
committee's  report  sounds  like  the  baldest  irony.  With 
the  report  was  presented  a  scheme  for  introducing  slavery 
into  the  state,3  a  scheme  which  eventually  led  to  the  vote 
of  1824.4 

The  Constitution  of  Illinois  provided  that  upon  the  vote 
of  two-thirds  of  the  members  of  each  house  of  the  legis- 
lature, the  question  of  calling  a  convention  for  the  revision 
of  the  Constitution  should  be  submitted  to  the  people. 
For  calling  a  convention  only  a  majority  vote  from  the 
people  was  necessary.  This  method  of  procedure  the 
pro-slavery  party 'determined  upon.  The  two-thirds  in 
favor  of  the  project  could  be  secured  without  difficulty  in 
the  senate,  but  in  the  house  the  desperate  expedient  of 
differs  from  that  by  Washburne,  "  Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,"  58,  and  Bonham, 
"  Fifty  Years  Recollections, "  22,  while  neither  gives  Coles  a  plurality  of  46 
votes,  as  Harris  in  "Negro  Servitude  in  111.,"  31,  says  the  official  returns  show 
him  to  have  received.  For  the  purposes  of  this  work  the  differences  are  so 
slight  as  to  be  negligible. 

1.  "House  Journal"  (111.),  1822-23,  PP-  25~7;  "Senate  Journal"  (111.), 
1822-23,  pp.  29-30. 

2.  "Senate  Journal"  (111.),  1822-23,  pp.  43-6;  "House  Journal"  (111.), 
1S22-23,  pp.  68,  134,  147-S. 

3.  "House  Journal"  (111.),  1S22-23,  pp.  44,  45. 

4.  Davidson  and  Stuve,  "Hist,  of  111.,"  320. 


SLAVERY  AS  AFFECTING  SETTLEMENT, 


183 


reconsidering  the  right  of  a  member  to  a  contested  seat 
and  seating  his  opponent  was  resorted  to.1  This  being 
done  the  resolution  to  submit  the  question  of  a  constitu- 
tional convention  to  the  people  was  passed  by  a  bare  two- 
thirds  vote  in  each  house.2  Of  the  eighteen  men  who 
voted  against  the  resolution,  eleven  were  natives  of  southern 
states,  two  of  New  York,  two  of  Connecticut,  one  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, one  of  Vermont,  and  one  of  Sweden.  There 
were  some  northern  men  who  voted  in  favor  of  the  reso- 
lution.3 

The  campaign  resulting  from  the  passage  of  the  conven- 
tion resolution  was  waged  for  eighteen  months  with  great 
vigor.  Press  and  pulpit  were  actively  employed.4  A  large 
anti- slavery  society  was  formed  in  Morgan  county,5  and 
it  was  in  all  probability  one  of  many  such  organizations. 
In  August,  1824,  came  the  final  vote,  and  the  official  count 
of  the  votes  showed  a  majority  of  1668  against  calling  a 
constitutional  convention.6 

1.  "House  Journal"  (111.),  1S22-23,  p.  272. 

2.  Ibid.,  1822-23,  p.  276;  "Senate  Journal"  (111.),  1822-23,  P-  252- 

3.  Washburne,  "Sketch  of  Edward  Coles, "passim. 

4.  "  Edwardsville  Spectator, "  Jan.  27,  1824;  Nov.  29,  1823. 

5.  Eames,  "Historic  Morgan  and  Classic  Jacksonville, "  12. 

6.  "House  Journal"  (111.),  1S24-25,  p.  64.  The  corrected  official  vote 
(Aug.  2,  1824),  by  counties,  is  as  follows: 


For.  Against. 
Alexander ..      75  51 

Bond 6. 

Clark ^ 

Crawford 


Edgar 

Edwards  . . 
Fayette. .  . 
Franklin  . . 

Fulton 

Gallatin  .. 


134 
3 

189 

125 
170 

5 
597 


240 
116 
262 
234 
39i 
121 

113 

60 

133 


180 
99 
74 

158 


Hamilton.. 
Jackson  ..  . 

Jefferson 

Johnson  

Lawrence.. 

Madison 351 

Marion. 45 

Montgomery      74 

Monroe 141 

Morgan 42 


For.  Against. 
173  85 


Greene 164       379  |  Pike 19 


93 

43 

74 

261 

563 
52 
90 
196 
432 
165 


Pope. 273 

Randolph  .  .  357 
Sangamon  ..  153 
St.  Clair..  ..    408 

Union 213 

Washington.    112 

Wayne 189 

White 355 

Totals 4972     6640 


For.  Against. 
124 
2  84 
722 
506 
24O 

'73 
I  II 
326 


The  vote  as  here  given  is  from  Moses,  "  Illinois,  "  I. ,  324.     It  is  also  given  in 


184  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  in  this  struggle  the  governor  of 
the  state  was  an  anti- slavery  southerner;  eleven  of  the 
eighteen  anti-slavery  men  in  the  legislature  were  south- 
ern; the  pro- slavery  party,  which  polled  1971  more  votes 
than  its  opponents  in  1822,  was  defeated  by  1668  votes  in 
1824.  It  is  also  true  that  of  the  leaders  in  the  campaign 
some  of  the  most  noted  were  southern  anti -slavery  or 
northern  pro-slavery  men. 

The  history  of  settlement  suggests  several  explanations 
for  the  votes  of  1822  and  1824.  The  legislature  which 
passed  the  convention  resolution  had  not  been  chosen 
with  the  avowed  purpose  of  doing  so.  Some  designing 
politicians  had  such  an  object  in  view  and  secured  the 
election  of  pro- slavery  men  by  anti -slavery  constituents. 
The  number  of  such  cases  was  not  large,  but  as  the  reso- 
lution passed  by  the  minimum  vote  they  are  important.1 
In  1822,  however,  there  was  almost  without  doubt  a  pro- 
slavery  majority  in  the  state,  but  it  is  improbable  that 
there  was  a  two-thirds  majority.  In  the  election  of  1822, 
there  were  8635  votes  cast,  while  in  that  of  1824  there  were 
11,612  votes  cast.  This  great  increase  indicates  a  large 
immigration.  Immigration  at  this  time  was  largely  to 
the  northern  counties  of  the  state,  and  it  is  a  point  of 
prime  significance  that  each  of  the  seven  northern  counties 
gave  large  majorities  against  the  calling  of  the  convention, 

Harris,  "Negro  Servitude  in  Illinois,"  48.  It  diners  to  a  slight  degree  from 
that  given  by  William  H.  Brown  in  his  "  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Early 
Movement  in  Illinois  for  the  Legalization  of  Slavery,"  read  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Chicago  Hist.  Soc . ,  Dec.  5,  1864  ("Fergus  Hist.  Ser. ,"  No.  4). 
and  in  Washburne,  "Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,"  191.  Brown  was  one  of  the 
leaders  in  the  struggle  and  his  work  is  of  especial  value.  It  is  probable  that 
the  vote  appended  to  his  address  was  prepared  by  some  one  else.  The  work 
of  Moses  is  of  later  date  and  his  figures  correspond  to  the  official  report  in 
respect  to  the  majority  against  the  convention,  as  the  others  do  not. 

1.   Brown,  "Early  Movement  in  Illinois  for  the  Legalization  of  Slavery," 
in"  Fergus  Hist.  Series,"  No.  4,  pp.  16-17. 


□ 


,g^A  LAWRENCE , 

1 ' '    ^EDWARDsi 

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/  F?A\MDOLPH~MARlbN 

VOTE  OF      ~^2B4?m5z\ 

A U6UST2, /8S4\  K/TsT3]     //3 

U   V       'Sg      '  \  GALLATIN 

\      33      \FMNKUN\ 
FOR  A  CONVENTION    &JACKS 


P^  AGAINST  A  CONVENTION 

llll  WITHIN  5ofo  OF  A  TIF 

UPPER  FIGURES,  PRO-CONVENT/ON 
LOWER  FIGURES,  AN  Tl  -  CONVENT/ON 


SLAVERY  AS  AFFECTING  SETTLEMENT.      185 

and  that  without  the  vote  of  these  seven  counties  the  vote 
would  have  been  4523  for  a  convention  and  4408  against  a 
convention,  thus  changing  the  decision  of  the  state.  This 
vote  of  the  northern  counties  can  not  be  explained  by  an 
increased  immigration  from  the  north,  because  no  such 
increase  to  any  significant  degree  is  discoverable.  The 
admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  state  would  naturally 
lead  pro -slavery  emigrants  to  go  to  that  state  instead  of 
to  Illinois.  Another  event  which  tended  to  influence  the 
vote  in  Illinois  was  the  decision  of  Indiana  against  slavery, 
in  the  summer  of  1823,  in  the  midst  of  the  campaign  in 
Illinois.1  The  unjust  action  of  the  Illinois  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives in  unseating  an  anti- convention  member  was 
a  powerful  argument  against  the  pro-slavery  party. 

In  his  message  to  the  legislature,  on  November  16, 
1824,  Governor  Coles  said:  "In  the  observations  I  had  the 
honor  to  make  to  the  last  Legislature,  I  recommended 
that  provision  should  be  made  for  the  abolition  of  the 
remnant  of  African  slavery  which  still  existed  in  this 
state.  The  full  discussion  of  the  principles  and"  policy  of 
personal  slavery,  which  has  taken  place  since  that  period, 
resulting  in  its  rejection  by  the  decided  voice  of  the 
people,  still  more  imperiously  makes  it  my  duty  to  call 
your  attention  in  an  especial  manner  to  this  subject,  and 
earnestly  to  entreat  you  to  make  just  and  equitable  pro- 
vision for  as  speedy  an  abolition  of  this  remnant  of  slavery, 
as  may  be  deemed  consistent  with  the  rights  and  claims  of 
the  parties  concerned. 

"In   close   connection   with    this   subject,  is   my  former 

recommendation,  to  which   I   again  solicit  your  attention, 

that  the  law  as  it  respects  those  held  in  service  should  be 

rendered  less  severe,  and  more  accordant  with  our  political 

1.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXV.,  39;  "The  Columbian  Star"  (Washington,  D. 
C.)i  Feb.  21,  1S24. 

14 


1 86  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

institutions  and  local  situation;  and  that  more  severe 
penalties  should  be  enacted  against  the  unnatural  crime  of 
kidnapping,  which  then  prevailed  to  a  great  extent  and 
has  since  considerably  increased,  in  consequence  of  the 
defects  of  the  present  law.  Regarding  the  former,  our 
laws  in  general  are  a  mere  transcript  of  those  of  the  more 
southern  states,  where  the  great  number  of  slaves  makes 
it  necessary  for  the  safety  of  the  whites,  that  the  laws  for 
their  government,  and  concerning  free  blacks,  should  be 
very  strict. —  But,  there  being  no  such  motive  here,  the 
necessity  of  such  laws  ceases,  and  consequently  their 
injustice  and  cruelty  are  the  more  apparent.  The  latter 
are  found  every  day  more  and  more  defective  and  inef- 
ficient; and  kidnapping  has  now  become  a  regular  trade, 
which  is  carried  on  to  a  vast  extent  to  the  country  border- 
ing on  the  lower  Mississippi,  up  the  Red  River,  and  to  the 
West  Indies.  To  put  an  immediate  and  effectual  stop  to 
this  nefarious  traffic,  is  the  imperious  duty  of  the  Legisla- 
ture."1 

The  house  of  representatives  referred  the  governor's 
remarks  concerning  kidnapping  to  a  select  committee.  A 
bill  was  reported,  but  after  being  weakened  by  amend- 
ments it  was  tabled.2  In  his  message  in  1826  the  governor 
renewed  his  recommendations,3  and  a  section  of  the  crim- 
inal code  of  January,  1827,  provided  that  kidnapping 
should  be  punishable  by  confinement  in  the  penitentiary 
for  not  less  than  one  nor  more  than  seven  years.4  An  act 
of  January,  1825,  provided  that  anyone  who  had  failed  to 
give  the  bond   required  by  the   black  code  of  18 19  from 

1.  "H.  J."  (111.),  1824-25,  p.  13;  on  kidnapping  see  Harris,  "Negro 
Servitude  in  111.,"  53  ff. 

2.  Ibid.,  1824-25,  pp.  26,  27,  151. 

3.  Ibid.,  1826-27,  pp.  9-10. 

4.  "Revised  Laws  of  111.,"  1S33,  180-1. 


SLAVERY   AS   AFFECTING    SETTLEMENT.  1 87 

those  who  emancipated  slaves,  should  be  released  from  any 
verdict  or  judgment  arising  from  such  failure,  upon  indem- 
nifying the  county  for  any  money  expended  for  the  relief 
of  the  freedmen.1  By  an  act  of  1829  relating  to  slaves, 
whites  were  not  to  marry  blacks,  slaves  were  not  to  come 
to  the  state  in  order  to  be  free,  and  runaway  slaves  should 
be  advertised  in  the  newspapers  of  the  state.2  The  num- 
ber of  slaves  in  Illinois  decreased  after  1820.  In  1820 
there  were  917  slaves  in  the  state;  in  1830,  747;  in  1840, 
33i,3and  before  the  next  census  slavery  in  the  state  was 
abolished. 

The  vote  of  1824  against  calling  a  constitutional  con- 
vention marked  the  end  of  the  slavery  question  as  an 
obstacle  to  the  immigration  of  an  anti-slavery  population. 
Slaveholders,  never  a  large  proportion  of  the  immigrants, 
practically  ceased  to  come  to  the  state,  while  the  immi- 
gration of  anti-slavery  southerners  continued,  and  the 
aggregate  immigration  greatly  increased.  The  population 
of  the  state  was  55,162  in  1820;  72,817,  in  1825;  and 
157,445  in  1830.  Missouri,  more  populous  than  Illinois 
by  more  than  11,000  in  1820,  was  less  so  by  17,000  in 
1830.4  Governor  Coles,  in  his  message  of  January  3,  1826, 
said:  "The  tide  of  emigration,  which  had  been  for  several 
years  checked  by  various  causes,  both  general  and  local, 
has  again  set  in,  and  has  afforded  a  greater  accession  of 
population  during  the  past,  than  it  had  for  the  three  pre- 
ceding years.  This  addition  to  our  population  and  wealth 
has  given  a  new  impulse  to  the  industry  and  enterprise  of 
our  citizens,  and  has  sensibly  animated  the  face  of  our 
country.     And   as   the    causes   which   have    impeded    the 

1.  "Laws  of  111.,"  1824-25,  p.  50. 

2.  "Revised  Laws  of  111."  1833,  463-65. 

3.  "Ninth  Census  of  the  U.  S.,  Population  and  Social  Statistics,"  p.  7. 

4.  Ibid.,  3;  "H.  J."  (111.),  1826,  11. 


1 88  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

prosperity  of  the  state  are  daily  diminishing',  and  the 
inducements  to  emigration  are  increasing,  we  may  confi- 
dently anticipate  a  more  steady  and  rapid  augmentation 
of  its  population  and  resources."  * 

From  1820  to  1825  the  increase  of  population  in  Illinois 
was  17,655,  while  from  1825  to  1830  it  was  84,628.  Con- 
temporaries have  left  some  interesting  records  of  immi- 
gration during  the  latter  five  years — a  period  in  which  the 
population  of  the  state  increased  more  than  116  per  cent. 
Immigration  had  begun  to  be  brisk  by  the  fall  of  1824. 
At  the  general  election  in  August,  1820,  there  were  1132 
votes  cast  in  Madison  county,  while  at  a  similar  election  in 
August,  1824,  there  were  3223  votes  cast  in  the  same  ter- 
tory,  Madison  county  having  been  divided  into  Madison, 
Pike,  Fulton,  Sangamon,  Morgan  and  Greene  counties.  A 
Madison  county  newspaper  said:  "That  country  bordering 
on  the  Illinois  River  is  populating  at  this  time  more  rapidly 
than  at  any  former  period.  Family  wagons  with  emigrants 
are  daily  passing  this  place  [Edwardsville],  on  their  way 
thither."2  During  the  five  weeks  ending  October  28,  1825, 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  wagons,  with  an  average' of 
five  persons  to  each,  passed  through  Vandalia,  bound 
chiefly  for  the  Sangamo  country.3  The  unsettled  condition 
of  the  slavery  question  from  1820  to  August,  1824,  is  given 
as  the  cause  of  the  slight  increase  in  population  during 
that  period,  and  the  settlement  of  the  question  is  thought 
to  have  been  a  chief  cause  for  the  increase  after  1824.4 
It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  any  one  cause 
excludes  all  others.  The  country  as  a  whole  had  scarcely 
recovered    from    the   great    financial    depression  of  18 19; 

1.  "H.  j."  (111.),  1826,  n. 

2.  "Edwardsville  (111.)  Spectator,"  Oct.  5,  1824. 

3.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXIX.,  20S. 

4.  Ibid.,  XXIX.,  422. 


SLAVERY   AS    AFFECTING    SETTLEMENT.  1 89 

Kentucky  was  in  turmoil  over  her  bank,  land  titles  and 
old  and  new  courts;1  early  in  1825  over  65,000  acres  in  a 
single  county  in  Tennessee  were  advertised  for  sale  for  the 
delinquent  taxes  of  1824;2  and  in  1826  a  great  drought  in 
North  Carolina  caused  a  marked  emigration  from  that 
state.3 

In  1829  emigration  was  great.  Some  forty  English 
families  from  Yorkshire  came  by  way  of  Canada  and 
settled  near  Jacksonville,  Illinois.  They  brought  agricul- 
tural implements  and  some  money.4  The  Kentucky  Gazette 
lamented  the  fact  that  a  large  number  of  the  best  families  of 
Lexington  were  removing  to  Illinois.5  An  Illinois  news- 
paper reported :  "The  number  of  emigrants  passing  through 
our  Town  [Vandalia]  this  fall,  is  unusually  great.  During 
the  last  week  the  waggons  and  teams  going  to  the  north 
amounted  to  several  hundred.  At  no  previous  period  has 
our  State  encreased  so  rapidly,  as  it  is  now  encreasing."6 
Another  editor  estimated  the  annual  increase  in  population 
from  1826  to  1829  at  not  less  than  i2,ooo7 — a  figure  which 
was  almost  certainly  too  low.  In  1830  a  meeting  of  gen- 
tlemen from  the  counties  of  Hampshire  and  Hampden 
(Massachusetts)  was  held  at  Northampton  to  consider  the 
expediency  of  forming  a  colony  to  remove  to  Illinois. 
After  a  discussion  it  was  voted  to  adjourn  to  meet  on  the 
10th  of  October  at  Warner's  Coffee  House  in  Southampton. 
Similar  meetings  were  held  at  Pawtucket  and  Worcester.8 

Shaler,  "Kentucky,"  176-S5. 

"Nashville  (Tenn. )  Republican,"  Apr.  16,  1S25. 

"Niles'  Register,"  XXX.,  449. 

"Galena  Advertiser,"  July  20,  Aug.  10,  Sept.  21,  1829. 

5.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXXVI.,  222. 

6.  "Illinois  Intelligencer"  (Vandalia),  Oct.  31,  1829. 

7.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXXVI.,  271. 

8.  "Illinois  Intelligencer"  (Vandalia),  Nov.  27,  1S30. 


190  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

The  immigration  to  Illinois  was  but  part  of  a  general 
westward  movement.  From  Charleston,  Virginia,  we  hear: 
"The  tide  of  emigration  through  this  place  is  rapid,  and 
we  believe,  unprecedented.  It  is  believed  that  not  less 
than  eight  thousand  individuals,  since  the  ist  September 
last  [written  on  November  6,  1829],  have  passed  on  this 
route.  They  are  principally  from  the  lower  part  of  this 
state  and  South  Carolina,  bound  for  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Michigan.  —  They  jog  on,  careless  of  the  varying  climate, 
and  apparently  without  regret  for  the  friends  and  the 
country  they  leave  behind,  seeking  forests  to  fell,  and  a 
new  country  to  settle."  The  editor  attributes  this  move- 
ment to  the  fact  that  slavery  had  rendered  white  labor 
disreputable.1  Three  thousand  persons  bound  for  the 
West  arrived  at  Buffalo  in  one  week  and  six  thousand  per 
week  were  reported  as  passing  through  Indianapolis,  bound 
for  the  Wabash  country  alone.2  The  great  northern  tide 
was  chiefly  bound  to  Ohio  and  Michigan,3  northern  Illinois 
not  being  open  to  settlement.  Five  years  after  Detroit 
received  three  hundred  arrivals  per  week,  Chicago  had 
about  a  dozen  houses,  besides  Fort  Dearborn.  This  was 
the  Chicago  of  1830.4 

1.  "Niles'  Register,"  XXXVII.,  195. 

2.  "Galena  Advertiser,"  July  20,  1S29;  "Niles'  Register,"  XXXVII. ,  230. 

3.  "Niles' Register, "  XXVIII.,  161. 

4.  "State  Papers,"  No.  69,  21st  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  Vol.  III. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Successful    Frontiersmen. 

THE  character  of  the  men  who  succeed  in  gaining  the 
favor  of  those  among  whom  they  live  indicates  the 
character  of  those  whose  favor  has  been  gained.  Preachers, 
land  dealers,  lawyers,  town  builders,  and  politicians  can  not 
thrive  in  a  hostile  community.  It  is  worth  while  in  study- 
ing Illinois  in  its  frontier  stage  to  notice  some  of  the  chief 
traits  of  its  leaders. 

No  better  type  of  the  pioneer  preacher  need  be  sought 
than  the  Rev.  Dr.  Peter  Cartwright.  He  preached  in  the 
West  for  nearly  seventy  years,  during  which  time  he  deliv- 
ered some  eighteen  thousand  sermons,  baptized  some 
fifteen  thousand  persons,  received  into  the  church  nearly 
twelve  thousand  members,  and  licensed  preachers  enough 
to  make  a  whole  conference.  He  was  for  fifty  years  a 
presiding  elder  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  His 
home  was  in  Illinois  from  1824  until  his  death  in  1872. 
Aside  from  his  ministerial  duties  he  twice  represented 
Sangamon  county  in  the  Illinois  House  of  Representa- 
tives; was  a  candidate  for  congressman  against  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  1846;  and  was  a  member  of  an  historical  society 
founded  as  early  as  1827. 

Cartwright  had  a  number  of  traits  that  attracted  fron- 
tiersmen. In  person  he  was  about  five  feet  ten  inches 
high,  and  of  square  build,  having  a  powerful  physical 
frame  and  weighing  nearly  two  hundred  pounds.  "The 
roughs  and  bruisers  at  camp- meetings  and  elsewhere  stood 
in  awe  of  his  brawny  arm,  and  many  anecdotes  are  told  of 
his  courage  and  daring  that  sent  terror  to  their  ranks.  He 
felt  that  he  was  one  of  the  Lord's  breaking  plows,  and  that  he 
had  to  drive  his  way  through  all  kinds  of  roots  and  stubborn 

191 


192  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

soil.  .  .  .  His  gesticulation,  his  manner  of  listening, 
his  walk,  and  his. laugh  were  peculiar,  and  would  command 
attention  in  a  crowd  of  a  thousand.  There  was  something 
un definable  about  the  whole  man  that  was  attractive  to 
the  majority  of  the  people,  and  made  them  linger  in  his 
presence  and  want  to  see  him  again."  He  had  a  remark- 
able power  to  read  men,  his  first  impressions  being  quickly 
made  and  almost  always  correct.  He  was  often  gay,  but 
never  frivolous;  often  eccentric,  but  never  silly.  A  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian,  after  attending  a  communion  service 
administered  by  Cartwright  and  at  which  the  Baptist,  Rev. 
John  M.  Peck,  was  present,  wrote:  "After  meeting,  I 
invited  these  two  men  to  spend  the  night  with  me,  which 
they  did;  and  such  a  night!  —  of  all  Western  anecdotes 
and  manners,  flow  of  soul  and  out -spoken  brotherhood  — 
we  had  never  seen,  and  never  expect  to  enjoy  again. 
These  were,  then  [1824  c],  the  two  strongest  men  of  mark 
in  the  ministry,  in  this  State  [Illinois]."  Cartwright's 
vitality  was  remarkable.  In  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his 
ministry,  and  the  eighty- sixth  of  his  life,  he  dedicated  eight 
churches,  preached  at  seventy -seven  funerals,  addressed 
eight  schools,  baptized  twenty  adults  and  fifty  children, 
married  five  couples,  received  fifteen  into  the  church  on 
probation  and  twenty-five  into  full  connection,  raised 
twenty-five  dollars  missionary  money,  donated  twenty 
dollars  for  new  churches,  wrote  one  hundred  and  twelve 
letters,  delivered  many  lectures,  and  sold  two  hundred 
dollars  worth  of  books.  Many  frontier  preachers  of  the 
time  were  lacking  in  common  sense,  but  they  were  not 
popular.  This  is  the  testimony  of  a  contemporary  (1828) 
writer  whose  analysis  of  western  character  has  rarely  been 
excelled.1 

1.  Thomas  S.  Hinde,  writing  over  the  signature  of  "Theophilus  Arminius,  " 
in  "Methodist  Magazine,"  XL,  1828,  154--8.  The  identity  of  the  writer  is 
shown  by  a  note  on  p.  33  of  the  same  volume. 


SUCCESSFUL   FRONTIERSMEN.  193 

John  Edgar,  a  native  of  Ireland,  was  one  of  the  largest 
landholders  who  ever  lived  in  Illinois.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  American  Revolution  he  was  a  British  officer  living 
at  Detroit,  but  becoming  implicated  in  the  efforts  of  his 
American  wife  to  aid  British  soldiers  in  deserting,  he  was 
imprisoned.  He  escaped,  and  in  1784  settled  in  Kaskas- 
kia, where  his  wife  joined  him  two  years  later,  having 
saved  from  confiscation  some  twelve  thousand  dollars- 
This  made  Edgar  the  rich  man  of  the  community.  "In 
very  early  times,  he  erected,  at  great  expense,  a  fine  flouring 
mill  on  the  same  site  where  M.  Paget  had  built  one  sixty 
years  before.  This  mill  was  a  great  benefit  to  the  public 
and  also  profitable  to  the  proprietor.  Before  the  year 
1800,  this  mill  manufactured  great  quantities  of  flour  for 
the  New  Orleans  market  which  would  compare  well  with 
the  Atlantic  flour."  Edgar  built  a  splendid  mansion  in 
Kaskaskia  and  entertained  royally.  At  a  time  when  hos- 
pitality was  common  he  improved  upon  it.  His  home  was 
the  fashionable  resort  for  almost  half  a  century.  It  was 
here  that  Lafayette  was  entertained.  In  addition  to  his 
flour  mill,  which  attracted  settlers  to  its  vicinity  near 
Kaskaskia  and  which  for  many  years  did  most  of  the 
merchant  business  in  flour  in  the  country,  Edgar  owned 
and  operated  salt  works  near  the  Mississippi,  northwest  of 
Kaskaskia,  and  also  invested  largely  in  land.  Before  the 
commissioners  appointed  to  settle  land  claims  he  claimed 
thirty -six  thousand  acres  in  one  claim  as  the  assignee  of 
ninety  donation -rights,  while  he  and  John  Murry  St.  Clair 

Among  the  many  writings  concerning  Peter  Cartwright,  the  best  are  Strick- 
land, ■'Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartwright";  Cartwright,  "  Fifty  Years  as  a 
Presiding  Elder,"  and  the  obituary  notice  in  "Minutes  of  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences of  the  M.  E.  Church,"  1S73,  1 15  —  7.  See  also  Moses,  "Illinois," 
I- 1  34S,  379,  395*  5°6.  "66. 

For  the  character  of  John  M.  Peck,  also  a  noted  pioneer  preacher  and 
founder  of  Rock  Spring  Seminary  in  Illinois,  see  "Memoir  of  John  Mason 
Peck,  D.  D.,"  edited  by  Rufus  Babcock. 


194  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

claimed  13,986  acres  which  proved  upon  survey  to  cover 
almost  thirty  thousand  acres.  In  territorial  times  Edgar 
paid  more  taxes  than  any  one  else  in  the  territory.  In 
1790  Edgar  was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the  Kaskaskia 
district  of  St.  Clair  county;  in  1800  he  was  "Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Commandant  of  the  First  Regiment  of  Militia  of 
the  County  of  Randolph";  in  1802  he  was  commissioned 
an  associate  judge  of  the  Criminal  Court  of  Randolph 
county,  by  Governor  Harrison.  He  had  never  studied 
law  "but  common  sense,  a  good  education,  and  experience 
in  business  with  perfect  honesty  made  him  a  very  respect- 
able officer."  Edgar's  correspondence  with  Clark  and 
Hamtramck  show  him  to  have  been  a  leader  in  Illinois 
during  its  period  of  anarchy  preceding  the  establisment  of 
government  in  1790.  He  offered  to  board  a  garrison  on 
the  credit  of  the  United  States,  if  a  garrison  should  be 
sent  to  protect  Illinois.  At  a  time  when  slaveholding  was 
regarded  as  eminently  respectable  by  the  people  of  Illinois, 
Edgar  held  slaves,  and  in  1796  he  was  one  of  four  who 
petitioned  Congress  to  introduce  slavery  into  the  territory. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  the  Northwest 
Territory,  was  worshipful  master  of  the  first  Lodge  of 
Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons  in  Illinois,  constituted 
at  Kaskaskia  in  1806,  and  was  major-general  of  militia,  in 
which  capacity  he  presided  at  reviews  with  much  dignity. 
In  person  Gen.  Edgar  was  large  and  portly.  He  was 
definitely  charged  with  forgery  by  the  commissioners  to 
settle  land  titles  at  Kaskaskia.  In  one  case  a  letter  signed 
in  a  fair  hand  by  one  who  had  made  his  mark  to  a  deed 
was  produced  by  Edgar.  The  letter  was  an  offer  ot  the 
illiterate  owner  to  sell  his  land  to  Edgar.  There  is  no 
indication  that  this  conduct  of  the  hospitable  and  popular 
man  changed  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  his 
contemporaries.1 

1.    "Pub.  Lands,"  I.,  69-70;  II.,  203-4;  "Early  Chicago  and  Illinois,"  in 


SUCCESSFUL   FRONTIERSMEN.  195 

John  Rice  Jones,  the  first  lawyer  in  Illinois,  was  emi- 
nently successful.  He  was  born  in  Wales  in  1759,  received 
a  collegiate  education  at  Oxford,  England,  and  afterward 
took  regular  courses  in  both  medicine  and  law.  In  17S3 
he  was  a  lawyer  in  London  and  owned  property  in  Wales. 
The  next  year  he  came  to  Philadelphia  where  he  practiced 
law  and  became  acquainted  with  Benjamin  Rush,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  Myers  Fisher,  and  other  distinguished  men.  In 
1786  he  came  to  Kentucky  and  joined  Clark's  troops 
against  the  Wabash  Indians.  A  garrison  was  irregularly 
established  at  Vincennes  and  Jones  was  made  commissary- 
general.  He  sold  seized  Spanish  goods  to  partially  indem- 
nify those  whose  goods  had  been  seized  by  the  Spanish. 
In  1790  Jones  removed  to  Kaskaskia,  bringing  to  his 
residence  on  the  frontier  a  mind  well  trained  by  education 
and  experience.  He  early  became  a  large  landowner,  in 
1808  paying  taxes  on  16,400  acres  in  Monroe  county  alone. 
The  list  of  offices  held  by  Jones  shows  him  to  have  been 
prominent  wherever  he  went.  He  was  attorney- general 
of  the  Northwest  Territory,  a  member  and  president  of  the 
legislative  council  of  the  same,  joint- revisor  with  John 
Johnson,  of  the  laws  of  Indiana  Territory,  one  of  the  first 
trustees,  as  well  as  a  chief  promoter,  of  Vincennes  Univer- 
sity, official  interpreter  and  translator  of  French  for  the 
commissioners  appointed  to  settle  land  claims  at  Kaskas- 
kia,  and    after    his    removal    to    Missouri,   about    18 10,   a 

"Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  145,  159,  167,  169-70,  17S-9,  209;  Rey- 
nolds, "Pioneer  Hist,  of  111.,"  no,  116-8,  1S0,  215;  John  Edgar  to  Clark, 
from  Kaskaskia,  Nov.  7,  1785,  in  "Draper's  Notes,  Trip  i860,"  VI.,  214-5; 
Edgar  to  Clark,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  23,  1786,  "  Draper  Coll.,  Clark  MSS.," 
LIII.,  56;  Petition  from  Kaskaskia,  Sept.  14,  1789,  "Draper  Coll.,  Harmar 
Papers,"  II.,  124-7;  Offer  of  John  Edgar,  from  Kaskaskia,  Oct.  3,  17S9, 
"Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  127-S;  Hamtramck's  reply  to  the  Kas- 
kaskia petition  of  Sept.  14,  1789,  from  Vincennes,  Oct.  14,  1789,  "Draper 
Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  128-30;  Edgar  to  Hamtramck,  from  Kaskaskia, 
Oct.  28,  1789,  ibid.,  II.,  132-6;  "Draper  Coll.,  Kenton  MSS.,"  Edgar  Papers. 


196  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

member  of  the  Missouri  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1820,  and,  upon  the  admission  of  the  state,  justice  of  its 
Supreme  Court  until  his  death  in  February,  1824.  In 
Missouri  he  engaged  in  lead  mining  and  smelting  with 
Moses  Austin  and  later  with  Austin's  sons.  He  made  an 
exhaustive  report  on  the  lead  mines  of  Missouri  in  18 16. 
Jones  was  well  versed  in  English,  French  and  Spanish 
law,  especially  in  regard  to  land  titles.  He  was  an  excellent 
mathematician,  and  had  also  a  thorough  acquaintance  with 
the  Greek,  Latin,  French,  Spanish,  English,  and  Welsh 
languages.  The  pioneers  recognized  his  peculiar  fitness 
for  a  legal  career  on  the  frontier.  Governor  Reynolds,  a 
fellow- townsman  of  Jones,  says:  "Judge  Jones  lived  a 
life  of  great  activity  and  was  conspicuous  and  prominent 
in  all  the  important  transactions  of  the  country. 
His  integrity,  honor,  and  honesty  were  always  above  doubt 
or  suspicion.  He  was  exemplary  in  his  moral  habits,  and 
lived  a  temperate  and  orderly  man  in  all  things."1 

The  founding  of  the  towns  of  Mt.  Carmel,  Alton  and 
Springfield  illustrates  the  work  of  successful  town  building 
on  the  frontier.  Mt.  Carmel  was  laid  out  in  1S17,  Alton 
in  18 1 8,  and  the  land  where  Springfield  now  stands  was 
entered  in  1823. 

The  town  of  Mt.  Carmel  was  founded  by  three  min- 
isters, Thomas  S.  Hinde,  William  McDowell  and  William 
Beauchamp,  the  first  two  being  proprietors  and  the  last 
agent  and  surveyor.  McDowell  probably  never  settled  in 
Illinois.  Hinde  and  Beauchamp  were  men  of  more  than 
ordinary  ability.  The  former  was  a  son  of  the  well- 
known  Dr.  Hinde,  of  Virginia,  who  was  a  surgeon  in  the 
British    navy  during   the    French    and    Indian    war.     Dr. 

1.  Reynolds,  "Pioneer  Hist,  of  111.,"  170-2;  \V.  A.  Burt  Jones,  in 
"Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  IV.,  230-70;  Jones  to  Hamtramck,  from  Kaskas- 
kia,  Oct.  29,  1789,  "Draper  Coll.,  Harmar  Papers,"  II.,  136-41. 


SUCCESSFUL   FRONTIERSMEN.  197 

Hinde  moved  to  Kentucky  and  there  the  boy  Thomas 
grew  up.  At  one  time  he  was  a  neighbor  of  Daniel 
Boone,  and  later  of  Simon  Kenton.  He  was  in  the  office 
of  the  Superior  Court  of  Kentucky  for  some  time,  during 
which  he  became  well  acquainted  with  Governor  Madison 
and  his  nephew,  John  Madison,  kinsmen  of  President  James 
Madison.  He  was  well  informed  as  to  some  of  the  obscure 
movements  of  Aaron  Burr.  This  led  him  to  send  copies 
of  the  Fredonian,  which  he  published  in  order  to  oppose 
Burr,  to  Henry  Clay,  then  secretary  of  state,  although  the 
copies  later  unaccountably  disappeared;  and,  in  1829,  to 
write  to  James  Madison,  who  was  reported  as  contemplat- 
ing the  writing  of  a  political  history,  offering  to  furnish 
information  which  he  possessed  at  first  hand  concerning 
the  conspiracy.  Madison  denied  any  intention  of  writing 
a  history,  but  asked  Hinde  to  furnish  an  account  of  Burr's 
transactions  to  be  filed  with  Madison's  papers.  This  was 
done.  In  1806,  Hinde  moved  to  Ohio  to  get  away  from 
slavery. 

William  Beauchamp  was  born  in  Kent  county,  Dela- 
ware, in  1772.  He  became  a  minister  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  1794,  but  located  in  1801  on  account 
of  ill  health.  His  ministry  had  been  markedly  successful 
and  he  had  been  stationed  in  New  York  and  Boston.  In 
1807  he  settled  on  the  Little  Kanawha  River  in  Virginia, 
and  in  18 15  moved  to  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  where  he  acted  as 
editor  of  the  Western  Christian  Monitor,  Hinde  being  a 
contributor.  Beauchamp  knew  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew, 
was  a  writer  of  considerable  ability,  and  was  well  fitted  to 
be  editor.  In  18 16,  however,  the  General  Conference 
decided  to  establish  a  magazine,  and  in  the  following  year 
Beauchamp  retired  from  the  editorship  of  the  Monitor, 
having  successfully  established  the  first  Methodist  magazine 
in  America.     Beauchamp,  Hinde  and  McDowell  were  now 


I98  SETTLEMENT    OF    ILLINOIS. 

fellow- townsmen.  They  resolved  to  establish  a  town 
where  their  ideas  of  rectitude  might  be  applied. 

The  site  chosen  for  the  town  was  a  point  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Wabash  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  White 
River,  and  twenty-four  miles  southwest  of  Vincennes.  This 
point  was  selected  because  of  the  available  water  power 
and  of  the  likelihood  that  main  roads  from  east  to  west 
would  pass  here.  The  town  became  a  railroad  and  manu- 
facturing center  and  justified  the  wisdom  of  its  founders. 
An  elaborate  circular,  called  the  "Articles  of  Association, 
for  the  City  of  Mount  Carmel,"  was  issued  at  Chillicothe 
in  1 8 17.  The  purpose  of  the  association  was  announced 
to  be  "to  build  a  city  on  liberal  and  advantageous  princi- 
ples, and  to  constitute  funds  for  the  establishment  of 
seminaries  of  learning  and  for  religious,  purposes."  The 
proprietors  reserved  for  themselves  one -fourth  of  the  lots, 
these  being  called  "proprietors'  lots;"  one-fourth  were 
called  "public  donation  lots;"  and  one-half  were  called 
"private  donation  lots."  The  plan  of  survey  and  sale  was 
described  as  follows:  "The  front  street  is  132  feet  wide; 
the  others  99.  The  in -lots  are-  six  poles  in  front,  and 
eleven  and  a  half  back;  containing  each  sixty- eight 
perches,  nearly  half  an  acre.  The  most  of  the  out -lots 
contain  four  acres  and  eight  square  poles;  some  of  them 
more,  (five  and  six  acres  on  the  back  range) ;  and  a  few  of 
them  less.  There  are  748  in-lots,  and  331  out-lots — 1079 
in  the  whole. 

"The  lots  are  offered  at  private  sale,  at  the  following 

prices: 

IN-LOTS   ON   FRONT    STREET. 

Corners. $150  each 

Not  corners 100 

THE   REST    OF   THE    IN-LOTS. 

Corners $120  each 

Not  corners 80 

The  out-lots $100  each 


SUCCESSFUL    FRONTIERSMEN.  1 99 

"The  payments  are  to  be  made  in  four  annual  instal- 
ments; the  first  at  the  time  of  sale. 

"A  bank  is  to  be  constituted  by  the  sale  of  the  lots. 

"One- fourth  of  the  lets  are  appropriated  to  the  use  of 
schools  and  religious  purposes. 

"One-half  of  the  lots  are  to  be  given  away  to  those  who 
will  improve  them  according  to  the  articles  of  association. 
A  person  may  have  as  many  gift,  or  private  donation  out- 
lots,  as  he  has  such  in -lots;  the  out -lots  not  required  to 
be  improved.  The  gift  lots  are  to  be  disposed  of  on  the 
following  terms:  the  persons  receiving  them  pay  the  prices 
above  stated,  and  receive  for  the  money  thus  paid,  stock 
in  the  aforesaid  bank.  They  are  to  improve  the  in- lots 
thus  given  to  them,  by  building  one  dwelling-house  for 
every  such  in-lot;  one-half  of  the  houses  to  be  built 
within  five  years,  and  the  other  half  within  ten  years,  from 
the  sale  of  said  lots.  The  houses  to  be  framed,  brick,  or 
stone,  and  to  contain  two  rooms,  and  two  fire-places  each." 

The  bank  referred  to  was  "The  Bank  of  Mount  Carmel." 
Its  shares  were  ten  dollars  each.  The  proprietors  might 
put  into  the  stock  one -half  of  the  money  received  from 
the  sale  of  proprietors'  lots;  all  the  money  received  for 
public  donation  lots  was  to  be  divided  into  three  equal 
parts,  one  part  to  be  funded  in  the  bank  in  the  name  of 
the  trustees  (to  be  appointed)  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  the  proceeds  to  be  applied  to  the  building  of 
"Methodist  Episcopal  meeting  houses  in  the  city  of  Mount 
Carmel,  and  to  other  religious  purposes,"  not  including 
ministers'  salary;  the  second  part  to  be  funded  in  the 
name  of  the  trustees  (to  be  appointed)  of  a  male  academy; 
the  third  part  to  be  similarly  funded  for  a  female  academy; 
the  money  from  private  donation  lots  to  be  funded  in  the 
name  of  the  purchasers,  after  deducting  ten  per  cent  for 
expenses,  which  ten  per  cent  should  remain  in  the  bank 


200  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

as  permanent  stock.  The  articles  of  association  were 
elaborate.  The  iSth  article  became  known  as  the  "Blue 
Laws."  It  read  as  follows:  "Art.  iS.  No  theatre  or  play- 
house shall  ever  be  built  within  the  bounds  of  this  city. 
No  person  who  shall  be  guilty  of  drunkenness,  profane 
swearing  or  cursing,  Sabbath  breaking,  or  who  shall  keep 
a  disorderly  house,  shall  gamble,  or  suffer  gambling  in  his 
house,  or  raise  a  riot,  or  break  the  peace  within  the  city,  or 
be  guilty  of  any  other  crime  of  greater  magnitude  in  guilt 
than  those  here  mentioned,  and  shall  be  convicted  thereof 
before  the  mayor,  council,  or  any  other  court  having  cogni- 
zance of  such  crime  or  crimes,  shall  be  eligible  to  any 
office  of  the  city  of  Mount  Carmel  or  its  bank,  or  be 
entitled  to  vote  for  any  such  officer,  within  three  years 
after  such  conviction,  notwithstanding  anything  in  these 
articles  to  the  contrary." 

The  plan  for  a  town  was  successful.  Beauchamp  was 
surveyor,  pastor,  teacher,  and  lawyer  in  the  beginning  of 
settlement.  By  1819  a  school  was  established;  four  or 
five  years  later  a  school-house  was  built;  by  1S20  Mt. 
Carmel  circuit  of  the  M.  E.  church  had  been  formed;  in 
1825  a  brick  church  was  erected;  the  same  year  the  town 
was  incorporated  by  the  state  on  the  plan  laid  down  in 
the  articles  of  association;  in  1827  the  annual  conference 
of  the  Illinois  Conference  was  held  at  Mt.  Carmel. 

Beauchamp's  health  having  improved  he  reentered  the 
ministry  in  1822,  and  at  the  General  Conference  two  years 
later  he  lacked  but  two"  votes  of  being  chosen  bishop.  He 
died  in  1824. 

Hinde,  in  1825,  was  a  member  of  the  Wabash  Naviga- 
tion Company,  consisting  of  seventeen  prominent  Indiana 
and  Illinois  men,  and  having  a  capital  stock  of  one  million 
dollars.  He  was  one  of  the  nine  directors  for  the  first 
year.     He  continued  to  be  a  contributor  to  periodical  litera- 


SUCCESSFUL   FRONTIERSMEN.  201 

ture  and  became  the  biographer  of  his  friend  Beauchamp. 
In  a  letter  from  Mt.  Carmel,  of  May  6,  1842,  Hinde  says: 
"I  have  just  returned  from  the  East,  having  visited  the 
Atlantic  cities  generally  for  the  first  time,  after  forty-five 
years  pioneering  in  the  wilderness  of  the  West.  I  have 
been  three  times  a  citizen  of  Kentucky,  twice  of  Ohio,  and 
twice  of  Illinois."  Hinde  died  in  1846  and  was  buried  at 
Mt.  Carmel.  Among  his  writings  is  found  one  of  the 
most  acute  analyses  of  frontier  character  that  has  appeared. 
The  writer  points  out  that  eastern  ministers  have  often  been 
unsuccessful  and  eastern  immigrants  unpopular,  because 
they  have  underrated  the  people  of  the  West,  among 
whom  there  are  many  people  of  culture.  They  prefer 
"the  useful  to  the  shining  or  showy  talent."  In  the  West 
the  best  work  has  been  done  by  westerners.  The  English 
spoken  in  the  West  is  the  purest  to  be  found,  because  the 
various  provincialisms  of  the  immigrants  are  mutually 
corrective.  The  Virginian,  who  retained  his  unbounded 
hospitality,  was  the  most  prominent  character  in  the  WTest. 
"If  we  expect  to  find  on  crossing  the  mountains  a  people 
either  illiterate  or  ignorant  as  a  body,  we  will  assuredly, 
in  many  instances,  be  happily  disappointed.  It  too  often 
happens,  that  one  puffed  up  with  self  importance,  and 
possessing  a  conceited  and  heated  imagination,  will  form 
wild  conjectures  as  to  men  and  things.  We  have  been 
amused  at  the  bewildered  minds  of  such,  with  the  'whys' 
and  'wherefores';  and  one  of  the  most  ridiculous  whims  of 
some,  is  to  endeavour  to  press  every  thing  into  their  own 
mould;  and  shape  it,  be  it  what  it  may,  if  possible,  after 
their  own  manner,  custom,  or  operation,  forgetting  that 
'we  have  to  take  the  world  as  it  is,  and  not  as  we  would 
have  it  to  be.'  The  fact  is,  an  emigrant  should  come  forth 
as  an  inquirer,  and  set  himself  down  to  learn  at  the  thres- 
hold of  experience.  On  this  rock  thousands  have  been 
15 


202  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

injured,  and  none  have  suffered  more  than  the  English 
emigrants.  Oh!  with  what  poignant  grief  have  I  heard 
the  English  emigrant  exclaim  with  the  bitterest  invectives 
on  his  own  course  and  conduct,  as  to  this  particular. 
Conceiving  that  he  knew  every  thing,  when  he  came  here 
to  test  his  experience,  he  soon  found  that  he  'knew 
nothing.'  This  circumstance  I  have  found  too  to  have  its 
bearings  upon  American  emigrants  from  different  states; 
upon  families,  upon  individuals,  and  upon  preachers  also. 
How  often  have  I  heard  the  old  settler  complaining,  (who 
having  himself  learned  by  experience)  of  the  impertinent 
conduct  of  an  emigrant,  who  sometimes  carries  his  local 
policy  through  all  the  ramifications  of  his  life,  and  often  into 
the  religious  society,  as  well  as  elsewhere;  he  wishing  every 
thing  done,  as  he  saw  it  done  in  Boston,  New- York,  Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore,  and  very  often  'Old  England'  and 
'Ireland!'  as  if  men  who  have  to  act,  and  reflect  upon  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  different  from  any  ever  before 
presented  except  among  themselves,  are  to  be  governed 
by  acts  and  doings  of  people  in  the  moon!"1     A  man  who 

I.  "Methodist  Magazine,"  XL,  1828,  154-8.  The  remarks  of  Hinde 
recall  the  difficulty  which  was  experienced  by  the  men  who  governed  the 
Northwest  Territory  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787  when  they  attempted  to 
use  only  such  laws  as  had  been  adopted  by  some  state.  The  attempt  was 
early  and  finally  abandoned.  Hinde  gives  the  following  in  a  foot-note:  "A 
gentleman,  a  Virginian,  a  physician  of  eminence  who  was  educated  in  Paris, 
visited  a  western  state  many  years  ago  [written  in  1827],  and  lost  all  his  money 
by  gambling,  (playing  at  cards).  Meeting  a  friend  on  the  mountains  on  his 
return,  he  was  thus  addressed:  'Well,  doctor,  you  have  been  to  see  the  new 
country.'  'Yes,'  replied  the  doctor,  biting  his  lips,  'it  is  a  new  country,  it  is 
true;  but  there  are  some  of  the  oldest  people  in  it  that  I  ever  saw.'  "  —  See 
above  reference,  p.  155. 

On  Mt.  Carmel  and  its  founders,  in  general,  see:  "Articles  of  Association 
for  the  City  of  Mount  Carmel";  Bangs,  "Hist,  of  the  M.  E.  Church,"  IV., 
appendix,  3,  25;  III.,  230,  30S-14;  "Minutes  of  Conferences"  (Annual,  M 
E.),  I.,  347,  474,  516;  "American  Pioneer,"  I.,  327;   II.,  363-8;  "Laws  of 
III,  1S24-25,"  72-5;  Simpson,  " Cyclopaedia  of  Methodism, "  97-8;  "Meth- 


SUCCESSFUL   FRONTIERSMEN.  203 

thus  knew  the  frontier  was  fitted  to  be  the  founder  of  a 
western  town. 

Rufus  Easton  was  the  founder  of  the  town  of  Alton. 
Like  Hinde,  he  brought  to  his  work  a  fund  of  experience 
gained  on  the  frontier  and  in  public  affairs.  Easton  was 
born  at  Washington,  Litchfield  county,  Connecticut,  in  1774. 
He  descended  from  pioneers,  being  a  direct  descendant  of 
Joseph  Easton,  who  came  from  England  to  Newtowne, 
now  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  about  1633,  and  was  later 
one  of  Rev.  Thos.  Hooker's  colony  which  founded  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  of  which  Easton  was  an  original  propri- 
etor. In  1792  Rufus  Easton's  father,  a  Tory,  obtained  a 
large  grant  of  land  near  Wolford,  now  Easton  Corners, 
Ontario.  Rufus  received  a  good  education  before  study- 
ing law.  In  1798  he  was  practicing  law  in  Rome,  New 
York,  then  a  frontier  town.  November,  1801,  Easton,  with 
thirteen  other  prominent  men,  held  a  banquet  to  celebrate 
the  election  of  Thos.  Jefferson  as  President.  The  promi- 
nence of  the  young  lawyer  at  this  time  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  he  was  consulted  in  regard  to  federal  appoint- 
ments, and  that  he  was  in  1803  a  confidential  correspondent 
of  DeWitt  Clinton.  The  winter  of  1803-4  Easton  spent 
in  Washington,  where  he  became  a  friend  of  Aaron  Burr, 
Postmaster- General  Granger,  and  others.  In  the  spring 
of  1804  he  started  for  New  Orleans.  Aaron  Burr  gave 
him  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Abm.  R.  Ellery,  Esq.,  of 
New  Orleans,  in  which  he  said:  "You  will  certainly  be 
greatly  amused  to  converse  with  a  man  who  has  passed 
the  whole  winter  in  this  city — who  has  had  free  intercourse 

odist  Magazine,"  VIII.,  17,  49,  86.  Less  reliable  data  is  given  in  "Hist,  ot 
Edwards,  Lawrence,  and  Wabash  Counties,  111.,"  85,  162,  189-90,  236,  238, 
239.  Mount  Carmel  is  now  (1908)  the  county  seat  of  Wabash  county.  The 
"Hinde  MSS."  in  the  "  Draper  Coll."  are  large  in  volume,  but  have  slight 
historic  value,  being  chiefly  musings  of  the  author's  later  years. 


204  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

with  the  officers  of  Govt.  &  members  of  Congress — who 
has  discernment  to  see  beyond  the  surface,  and  frankness 
and  independence  enough  to  speak  his  own  sentiments." 
Easton  did  not,  however,  go  to  New  Orleans.  He  stopped 
for  a  short  time  at  Vincennes  and  then  located  at  St.  Louis. 
He  was  appointed  by  Jefferson  judge  of  the  Territory  of 
Louisiana  and  first  postmaster  of  St.  Louis.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1805,  Burr,  Wilkinson  and  Easton  had  a  conference  at 
St.  Louis.  Easton  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  Burr's  questionable 
proposals  and  from  this  time  Wilkinson  was  hostile  to 
Easton.  Easton  corresponded  with  Jefferson  and  Granger 
concerning  the  Burr  conspiracy.  Jefferson  appointed  him 
United  States  attorney,  18 14-18  he  was  delegate  to  Con- 
gress from  Missouri,  1821-26  he  was  attorney-general  of 
Missouri.  Easton  was  very  prominent,  entertaining  almost 
all  visitors  of  note.  Edward  Bates,  Lincoln's  attorney- 
general,  read  law  in  Easton's  office. 

Soon  after  coming  to  St.  Louis,  Easton  began  to  buy  up 
claims  to  land  in  Missouri  and  Illinois.  When  seeking  to 
find  a  suitable  place  for  a  town  in  Illinois,  he  selected  a 
point  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  twenty-five 
miles  north  of  St.  Louis  and  twenty  miles  south  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois.  There  was  here  a  good  landing 
place  for  boats,  and  also  extensive  beds  of  coal  and  lime- 
stone. The  town  was  named  Alton  in  honor  of  the 
founder's  son.  One  hundred  lots  in  the  new  town  were 
donated  to  the  support  of  the  gospel  and  public  schools, 
one-half  of  the  proceeds  to  be  devoted  to  each.  This 
provision  was  confirmed  by  the  act  of  incorporation  of 
January  30,  1821,  and  the  trustees  were  given  the  right  to 
tax  undonated  lots  for  the  support  of  schools.  This  latter 
provision  was  in  advance  of  public  sentiment  and  two 
years  later  it  was  repealed.  Alton,  like  Mt.  Carmel  and  to 
a  much  greater  extent,  proved  the  wisdom  of  its  location. 


SUCCESSFUL   FRONTIERSMEN.  205 

It  has  long  been  noted  for  its  manufactures  and  is  a 
thriving  modern  city.1 

The  town  of  Springfield,  since  1839  tne  capital  of 
Illinois,  was  laid  out  in  1822,  before  the  land  upon  which 
it  stood  was  offered  for  sale.  When  the  land  was  sold  in 
November,  1823,  the  section  upon  which  the  town  stood 
was  bought  by  Elijah  lies,  Pascal  Paoli  Enos,  Thomas 
Cox,  and  Daniel  P.  Cook,  each  purchasing  one  quarter, 
but  the  title  being  vested  by  agreement  in  lies  and  Enos. 
Cook,  like  McDowell  in  the  founding  of  Mt.  Carmel, 
seems  to  have  been  a  non-resident  proprietor. 

Elijah  lies  was  a  child  of  the  wilderness.  He  was  born 
in  Kentucky  in  1796,  and  died  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  in 
1SS3,  leaving  valuable  reminiscences  of  his  long  experience 
on  the  frontier.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth  Crockett  lies, 
a  relative  of  David  Crockett.  Elijah  attended  school  two 
winters  and  taught  two  winters.  In  18 12,  although  but 
sixteen  years  of  age,  he  acted  as  deputy  for  his  father,  who 
was  sheriff  of  Bath  county,  Kentucky.  Some  three  years 
later  his  father  gave  him  three  hundred  dollars,  with  which 
he  bought  one  hundred  head  of  yearling  cattle.  For  three 
years  he  herded  these  cattle  among  the  mountains  of  Ken- 
tucky, about  twenty  miles  from  civilization,  having  as  his 
only  companions  his  horse,  dog,  gun,  milk  cow,  and  the 
cattle.  His  meals  usually  consisted  of  a  stew  made  of 
bear  meat,  venison,  or  turkey,  and  a  piece  of  fat  bacon. 
At  the  end  of  the  three  years  the  cattle  were  sold  for 
about  ten  dollars  a  head,  and  the  youthful  dealer  having 
attained  his  majority  went  to  Missouri  and  became  a  land 
agent  for  eastern  speculators,  and  soon  began  to  speculate 

1.  Bay,  "Reminiscences  of  the  Bench  and  Bar  of  Mo.,"  78-91 ;  "Pub. 
Lands,"  II.,  index  under  Easton,  Rufus;  Easton,  "Descendants  of  Joseph 
Easton,  Hartford,  Conn.,"  1,  37,  65;  Moses,  "Illinois,"  I.,  272;  "Laws  of 
III,  1S20-21,"  39-45;  ibid.,  "1S22-23,"  147. 


206  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

for  himself.  In  1S21,  concluding  that  Missouri  was  too 
far  from  a  market,  he  sold  some  of  his  land  and  resolved  to 
move  to  Illinois.  At  that  time  the  site  upon  which  Spring- 
field was  to  stand  had  been  chosen  as  the  temporary- 
county  seat  of  Sangamon  county,  because  eight  men,  some 
of  whom  had  families,  lived  within  a  radius  of  two  miles 
from  the  site,  and  at  no  other  place  in  the  county  could 
the  lawyers  and  judge  secure  board  and  lodging.  lies 
quickly  discerned  the  advantages  of  the  Sangamon  country 
as  a  place  of  settlement,  and  straightway  built  a  log  store 
sixteen  feet  square,  went  to  St.  Louis  and  bought  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  worth  of  goods,  which  he  loaded  on  a 
keel-boat  and  had  towed  up  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Illinois  by  six  men,  whom  he  paid  seventy-five  dollars 
for  their  services.  When  the  land  was  offered  for  sale,  in 
1823,  lies  bought  a  quarter-section. 

Another  quarter-section  of  the  town  site  was  bought  by 
Pascal  Paoli  Enos.  The  fact  that  the  frontier  is  a  great 
social  leveler  is  well  illustrated  by  the  combination  of 
Enos  and  lies  as  joint  owners  of  a  town  site.  The  Enos 
family  had  come  from  England  in  1648,  and  Pascal  Paoli 
Enos,  son  of  Major- General  Roger  Enos,  was  born,  in 
Windsor,  Connecticut,  in  1770.  He  was  graduated  from 
Dartmouth  College  in  1794,  studied  law,  was  a  member  of 
the  Vermont  legislature  in  1804,  married  in  Vermont  and 
moved  to  Cincinnati  in  18 15,  later  to  St.  Charles,  Missouri, 
then  to  St.  Louis,  then  to  Madison  county,  Illinois,  and  in 
1823  was  appointed  by  President  Monroe  receiver  of 
public  moneys  for  the  land-office  in  the  District  of  San- 
gamo.  Thus  the  elderly  scholar  joined  the  shrewd  but 
youthful  frontiersman. 

Col.  Thomas  Cox  was  the  third  of  the  trio  of  the  resi- 
dent proprietors  of  Springfield.  He  had  signed  a  petition 
for  the  division  of  Randolph  county  in  18 12,  represented 


SUCCESSFUL   FRONTIERSMEN.  207 

Union  county  as  a  senator  in  the  first  general  assembly  of 
Illinois,  and  in  1820  was  appointed  register  of  the  land- 
office  at  Vandalia.  In  1823  he  came  to  Springfield  as 
register  of  the  land- office  at  that  place.  Col.  Cox  was  six 
feet  tall,  weighed  two  hundred  and  forty  pounds,  and  was 
a  drunkard  within  a  short  time  after  the  founding  of 
Springfield. 

The  most  important  thing  about  the  founding  of  the 
town  is  the  heterogeneous  character  of  its  founders.  A 
few  incidents  in  their  subsequent  history  will  emphasize 
this,  and  also  show  how  well  they  worked  together  when 
surrounded  by  the  same  conditions.  When  the  commis- 
sioners came  to  locate  a  permanent  county  seat  Spring- 
field, then  called  Calhoun,  had  a  formidable  rival  for  the 
honor.  lies  and  Enos  managed  to  have  a  mutual  friend 
engaged  as  guide  to  the  commissioners.  The  guide  con- 
ducted them  to  the  rival  settlement  by  a  long  and  rough 
route  and  upon  being  requested  to  take  them  back  over  a 
shorter  route  he  took  a  course  more  difficult  still.  The 
commissioners  decided  that  the  rival  settlement  was  inac- 
cessible, lies  was  twice  state  senator,  major  in  the  Winne- 
bago war,  and  captain  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  in  which 
he  served  with  Zachary  Taylor,  Jefferson  Davis,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  John  T.  Stuart,  Robt.  Anderson,  of  Fort  Sumter 
fame,  and  others.  lies  was  also  a  large  stock  dealer,  selling 
hogs  and  cattle  in  St.  Louis  and  mules  in  Kentucky,  until 
1838,  in  which  year  he  lost  ten  thousand  dollars  on  hogs 
packed  at  Alton.  In  1838-9  he  built  the  American  House 
in  Springfield.  This  was  then  the  largest  hotel  in  the 
state  and  its  erection  created  a  great  sensation.  He  was 
four  times  state  senator,  and  was  an  officer  of  the  Bank  of 
Edwardsville.  Enos  held  his  position  as  receiver  until 
removed  for  political  reasons  by  Jackson  in  1829.  Cox 
had  an  eventful  career.     He  was  removed  from  his  position 


208  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

of  register,  under  charges  of  misconduct,  early  in  1827; 
the  next  year  he  was  keeping  a  hotel  in  Springfield;  later 
he  removed  to  Iowa,  then  Wisconsin,  having  secured  a 
contract  for  the  survey  of  public  lands.  He  was  three 
times  a  member  of  the  Iowa  territorial  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives and  twice  a  member  of  the  territorial  Council. 
A  band  of  murderers,  horsethieves,  counterfeiters,  and 
blacklegs,  having  gained  possession  of  the  town  of  Belle- 
vue,  on  the  Mississippi,  in  Jackson  county,  Iowa,  Col.  Cox 
led  the  citizens  in  a  successful  attack  in  which  seven  men 
were  killed  outright  and  some  ten  or  fifteen  wounded.  At 
this  time  Cox  was  recognized  as  a  pronounced  drunkard, 
but  his  undoubted  courage,  ability  to  command,  and  strong 
physique  secured  him  a  following.1 

Shadrach  Bond,  the  first  governor  of  Illinois,  and  Pierre 
Menard,  the  first  lieutenant-governor,  were  both  poorly 
educated,  but  they  had  a  good  knowledge  of  men  and  a 
large  fund  of  information  concerning  practical  affairs.2 
Edward  Coles,  the  second  governor  of  the  state,  is  a  good 
example  of  the  polished,  well-educated  gentleman  suc- 
ceeding with  a  rude  constituency.  Coles  was  born  in  1786, 
in  Albemarle  county,  Virginia,  fitted  for  college  by  private 

1.  For  information  concerning  lies,  see:  "  Reminiscences  of  Elijah  lies," 
ln  "Hist,  of  Sangamon  County,  111.,"  5S0-3;  Power,  "Hist,  of  the  Early 
Settlers  of  Sangamon  Co.,  111.,"  397-400  (practically  a  short  autobiography 
of  lies,  written  in  1S76);.  Moses,  "Illinois,"  I.,  344;  II.,  1174.  Concerning 
Enos,  see:  Stiles,  "Ancient  Windsor,"  (Conn. ),  II.,  245,  246;  "Executive 
Journal,"  Senate,  1815-29,  pp.  325,  32S,  551,  553,  555;  ibid.,  1829-37,  pp.  50, 
391 ;  "Edwards  Papers,"  in  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  III..  205,  391. 
Concerning  Cox,  see:  Moses,  "Illinois,"  II.,  1168;  "Executive  Journal," 
Senate,  1815-29,  pp.  216-7,  325>  32&>  551,  553,  555;  Washburne,  "Sketch 
of  Edward  Coles,"  128-30;  "Edwards  Papers,"  in  "Chicago  Hist.  Soc. 
Coll.,"  III.,  76,  211,  336-7;  Gue,  "Hist,  of  Iowa,"  I.,  205,  211;  Fairall, 
"Manual  of  Iowa  Politics,"  107;  "Hist,  of  Jackson  Count}', "  Iowa,  360-403. 
On  Springfield,  see:   Peck,  "Gazetteer  of  Illinois,"  1834,  337. 

2.  Moses,  "Illinois,"  I.,  2S7,  289-90;  Reynolds,  "Pioneer  Hist,  of  111.," 
291-4,  323-7- 


SUCCESSFUL   FRONTIERSMEN.  209 

tutors,  educated  at  Hampden  Sidney  and  later  at  William 
and  Mary  College.  His  father's  home  was  visited  by 
Patrick  Henry,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  the  Ran- 
dolphs, Tazwell,  Wirt,  and  others.  For  six  years  Coles 
was  the  private  secretary  of  President  Madison,  and  during 
this  time  he  became  an  intimate  friend  of  Nicholas  Biddle. 
In  1 S 1 5  he  visited  Illinois  in  what  must  have  seemed  at 
that  time  great  state,  for  he  traveled  not  only  with  a  horse 
and  buggy,  but' with  a  servant  and  a  saddle-horse  as  well 
In  1 8 16-17  he  was  sent  as  a  special  messenger  to  Russia, 
stopping  at  Paris  on  his  return,  meeting  Louis  XVIII.  of 
France  and  becoming  a  friend  of  Lafayette.  In  18 19  he 
came  to  Edwardsville,  Illinois,  emancipated  his  slaves,  and 
assumed  his  duties  as  register  of  the  land- office.  The 
rough  pioneers  were  very  anxious  to  get  a  title  to  their 
lands.  "When  the  settler  reached  Edwardsville,  dressed 
in  jeans  and  wearing  moccasins,  with  his  money  in  his 
belt,  having  traveled  on  foot  or  on  horseback  long  dis- 
tances, and  first  presented  himself  to  the  Register  of  the 
Land  Office,  there  he  found  Edward  Coles,  who  had 
recently  emigrated  into  the  State  from  Virginia.  It  was 
known  to  some  of  them  that  he  had  been  the  private  sec- 
retary for  President  Madison,  and  had  been  on  an  impor- 
tant mission  to  Europe. 

"They  found  him  a  young  man  of  handsome,  but  some- 
what awkward  personal  appearance,  genteelly  dressed,  and 
of  kind  and  agreeable  manners.  The  anxious  settler  was 
at  once  put  at  ease  by  the  suavity  of  his  address,  the 
interest  he  appeared  to  feel  in  aiding  him,  and  the  thor- 
oughly intelligent  manner  in  which  he  discharged  his 
duty.  No  man  went  away  who  was  not  delighted  with 
his  intercourse  with  the  'Register.'  And  herein  is  illus- 
trated the  great  mistake  so  often  made  by  politicians  and 
candidates  for  popular  favor.     Too  many  candidates  for 


210  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

the  suffrage  of  the  people  in  our  early  political  contests 
thought  it  necessary,  in  order  to  make  themselves  popu- 
lar, to  affect  slovenly  and  unclean  dress  and  vulgar 
manners  in  their  campaigns.  There  was  never  a  greater 
mistake.  However  rough,  ill-clothed  and  unintelligent 
the  voter  might  be,  he  always  preferred  to  vote  for  the 
man  who  was  dressed  and  acted  like  a  gentleman  to  the 
one  who  dressed  like  and  acted  like  himself."1  Coles 
was  always  dignified,  always  gentlemanly,  and  always 
respected.  His  brief  residence  in  Illinois  affected  its 
history  for  all  time  to  come.  Like  Coles  in  several 
respects  was  his  successor  as  governor,  Ninian  Edwards. 
Born  in  Maryland  in  1775,  educated  by  the  celebrated 
William  Wirt,  and  later  graduating  from  Dickinson  College, 
Pennsylvania,  at  nineteen  years  of  age  he  came  to  Ken- 
tucky. Here  he  served  two  terms  in  the  Kentucky 
legislature,  was  presiding  judge  of  the  general  court, 
circuit  judge,  and  chief-justice  of  the  court  of  appeals. 
Henry  Clay  gave  as  Edwards'  marked  characteristics, 
good  understanding,  weight  of  character,  and  conciliatory 
manners.  In  his  campaign  for  governor  of  Illinois, 
Edwards  presented  himself  as  the  highest  type  of  a  pol- 
ished and  well-dressed  gentleman,  always  riding  in  his 
own  carriage  and  driven  by  his  negro  servant,  and  dressing 
in  all  the  style  of  an  old-fashioned  gentleman  with  broad- 
cloth coat,  ruffled  shirt,  and  high-topped  boots.  The 
people  were  not  repelled  by  such  a  display,  but  considered 
it  an  honor  to  vote  for  such  a  man.  The  egotistical 
Adolphus  Frederick  Hubbard,  who  was  one  of  the  two 
opponents  of  Edwards,  intermingled  bad  grammar  and 
poor  attempts  at  wit  in  his  electioneering  speeches,  and 

1.  Washburne,  "Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,"  16  et  seq.,  54-7.  Washburne, 
the  writer,  came  to  Galena,  Illinois,  when  it  still  had  many  frontier  charac- 
teristics, and  for  seventeen  years  represented  his  district  in  Congress. 


SUCCESSFUL   FRONTIERSMEN.  211 

received,  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  number  of  votes  cast 
for  either  of  the  two  other  candidates.1 

I.  Moses,  "Illinois,"  I.,  242-3,  336,  340-1,  351;  Washburne,  "Sketch  of 
Edward  Coles,"  54-7;  and  for  a  general  view  of  Edwards,  see:  N.W.  Edwards, 
"Hist,  of  111.  and  Life  of  Ninian  Edwards,"  and  "The  Edwards  Papers,"  in 
"Chicago  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,"  III. 


Works   Consulted. 
I. 

SOURCES. 

American  Historical  Association,  Annual  Report  of  the.  Wash- 
ington :  Government  Printing  Office. 

Report  for  1893,  PP-  I99-227>  see  Turner,  Frederick  Jackson;  Report  of 
1896,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  930-1107,  has  "Selections  from  the  Draper  Collection  in 
the  possession  of  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin,  to  elucidate  the 
proposed  French  expedition  under  George  Rogers  Clark  against  Louisiana, 
in  the  years  1793-94." 

American  monthly  Magazine  and  critical  Review.  New  York: 
H.  Biglow,  editor. 

Volumes  I. -III.  (1817-18)  give  information  of  much  value  concerning 
European  conditions  inducing  emigration.  A  few  of  the  notices  concern 
emigration  from  east  to  west  in  the  United  States. 

American  Register;  or,  Summary  Review  of  History,  Politics,  and 
Literature.     Philadelphia. 

Volume  II.,  202,  203,  216  (1S17),  tells  of  improvements  in  steamboat  navi- 
gation. 

Americans  as  they  are;  described  in  a  Tour  through  the  Valley  of 
the  Mississippi.     London:  Hurst,    Chance   6°   Co.,    1828.     vi.  + 
218  pp. 

Observations  on  Illinois  are  more  suggestive  than  accurate. 

Atwater,  Caleb.  Remarks  made  on  a  Tour  to  Prairie  du 
Chien.     Columbus,  Ohio:  Lsaac  N.   Whiting,  1831.      296  pp. 

The  tour  was  from  Circleville,  Ohio,  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  in  1S29,  and 
thence  to  Washington.  The  writer's  remarks  give  valuable  material  for  the 
history  of  the  time. 

Writings.    Columbus,  Ohio:  Caleb  Atwater,  1833.    408  pp. 

The  author  was  one  of  a  commission  to  treat  with  the  Indians  at  Prairie  du 
Chien  for  the  cession  of  the  lead  region.  In  1S29  he  went  from  St.  Louis  to 
Prairie  du  Chien.  He  gives  good  descriptions  of  Quincy,  Galena,  and  a  few 
other  places.  The  part  of  the  Writings  describing  this  journey  was  separately 
printed  in  1831.  The  edition  of  1S33  is  somewhat  better  than  the  previous 
one.  213 


214  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Balestier,  Joseph  N.  Annals  of  Chicago:  a  Lecture  delivered 
before  the  Chicago  Lyceum,  Jan.  21,  1840.  Republished  from  the 
original  Edition  of  1840,  with  an  Introduction,  written  by  the  Author 
in  1876.  Chicago:  Fergus  Printing  Co.,  1876.  In  Fergus  histor- 
ical Series,  L,  No.  1.     48  pp. 

Contains  a  copy  of  Capt.  Heald's  letter  of  181 2,  describing  the  massacre 
at  Fort  Dearborn. 

Biggs,  William.  Narrative  of  William  Biggs,  while  he  was  a 
Prisoner  with  the  Kickepoo  Indians  .  .  .  on  the  west  Bank 
of  the  Wabash  River  .  .  .  Printed  for  the  author,  June, 
1826.     22  pp. 

Biggs  was  captured  on  March  28,  1788,  and  remained  a  captive  for  several 
weeks.  This  very  rare  book  gives  valuable  insight  into  the  revolting  customs 
of  the  Indians. 

Birkbeck,  Morris.  Extracts  from  a  supplementary  Letter 
from  the  Illinois:  an  Address  to  British  Emigrants,  and  a  Reply 
to  the  Remarks  of  William  Cobbett,  Esq.  2d  ed.  London :  James 
Ridgway,  181 9.     36  pp. 

Birkbeck  had  issued  an  address  to  British  emigrants,  advertising  the  virtues 
of  his  English  settlement  in  Illinois.  William  Cobbett  declared  that  Birk- 
beck's  account  of  the  fertility  and  salubrity  of  Illinois  was  not  true.  Birkbeck 
issued  a  somewhat  scathing  reply,  showing  Cobbett's  ignorance. 

Letters  from  Illinois.     Philadelphia:   M.  Carey   &>  Son, 

1818.     121110.     vii.  +  154  pp. 

Twenty- two  letters  written  from  November,  181 7,  to  March,  1818,  by 
Morris  Birkbeck,  from  the  English  settlement  in  Edwards  county,  111.,  of 
which  settlement  he  was  the  founder.  Very  valuable  for  notes  concerning 
transportation  and  the  manner  of  life  of  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois. 

Notes  on  a  Journey  in  America  from  the  Coast  of  Virginia 

to  the  Territory  of  Illinois.     Philadelphia:  Richardson,  181 7. 

Passed  through  several  editions  in  England. 

A  graphic  account  of  the  journey  of  Birkbeck  from  500  miles  east  of  Cape 
Henry,  Va.  (April  26,  1817),  to  Shawneetown,  111.,  where  on  August  2,  1817, 
he  bought  1440  acres  of  land  as  a  site  for  his  English  settlement.  Very 
valuable  for  information  concerning  transportation  and  western  conditions. 

Blaney,  Capt.     An  Excursion  through  the  United  States  and 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  21  5 

Canada  during  the  years  1822-23.     By  an  English  Gentleman. 
London:  Baldwin, Cradock,  and  f^oy,  1824.     i6mo.     511pp. 

Pages  156-92  tell  of  the  author's  trip  across  Illinois.  He  visited  Albion  and 
then  went  to  St.  Louis  overland.  The  descriptions  of  Birkbeck's  settlement, 
the  difficulties  of  prairie  travel,  and  of  the  frontier  life  encountered  are  much 
above  the  average  of  travelers'  reports. 

Bonner,  T.  D.     Life  and  Adventures  of  James  P.  Beckwonrth 
Mountaineer,  Scout,  and  Pioneer,  and  Chief  of  the  Crow  Nation  of 
Indians.    Written  from  his  own  Dictation.    New  York:  Harper  6° 
Bros.,  1858.     i6mo.     535  pp. 

The  book  deals  almost  entirely  with  the  region  west  of  the  Mississippi,  but 
in  1820  Beckwourth  visited  Galena.  He  went  from  St.  Louis  with  a  party 
led  by  Col.  R.  M.  Johnson,  the  object  of  the  party  being  to  gain  a  mining 
concession  from  the  Sauk  Indians. 

Br  an  nan,  John  (Editor).  Official  Letters  of  the  military  and 
naval  Officers  of  the  United  States,  during  the  War  with  Great 
Britain  in  the  Years  18  12,  13,  14,  e-5  13.  Washington :  Way  & 
Gideon,  1823.      510  pp. 

A  valuable  collection.  Printed  without  comment.  Pages  84-5  give  Capt. 
Heald's  official  report  of  the  massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn,  August  15,  1812. 
The  report  is  in  a  letter  to  Thos.  H.  Cushing,  Adjutant  General,  written  from 
Pittsburg,  October  23,  1812. 

Brodhead,  Col.  Daniel.     A  Letter  from  Brodhead  to  Gen. 
Washington  referring  to  La  Palme's  Expedition. 
In  The  olden  Tune,  II.,  390-91. 

Butricke,  George.  Affairs  at  Fort  Chartres,  1 768-1781. 
Albany:  J.  Munsell,  1864.      10  pp. 

Reprinted  from  Historical  Magazine,  VIII. ,  No.  8.  Valuable.  Several 
letters  written  by  Geo.  Butricke,  then  stationed  at  Fort  Chartres.  Contains 
interesting  notes  on  Indians,  Spaniards,  and  British.     Tells  of  epidemic. 

Calendar  of  Virginia  State  Papers  and  other  Manuscripts. 
Richmond,  Va.,  1875- 1900.     9  vols. 

The  early  volumes  have  documents  of  great  value  concerning  the  period 
when  Illinois  was  a  part  of  Virginia. 

Cartwright,  Peter,     Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartwright,  the 


2l6  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

backwoods    Preacher.     Ed.    by   W.    P.    Strickland.       Nero    York: 
Carlton  &>  Porter.  1857.      16 mo.      525  pp. 

The  author  was  from  1S03  to  the  time  of  writing  his  book  (1856)  one  of 
the  most  famous  circuit  riders.  His  first  work  was  in  Kentucky.  He  came 
to  Illinois  in  1823.  His  views  on  slavery,  which  caused  his  removal,  are 
interesting.  A  valuable  work,  especially  for  giving  an  insight  into  the  social 
life  of  the  time. 

Chetlain,  Gen.  Augustus  Louis.  Recollections  of  seventy 
Years.     Galena:  The  Gazette  Pub.  Co.,  1899.     304  pp. 

The  author  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Galena,  and  gives  valuable  infor- 
mation concerning  that  important  region — 1S21  ff. 

Chicago  Historical  Society's  Collections.     Chicago,  1882-90:  — 

I.  History  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Edwards  County,  Illinois,  by 
George  Flower,  1882.     408  pp. 
II.   Sketch  of  Enoch  Long,  by  Harvey  Reid,  18S4.      112  pp. 

III.  The  Edwards  Papers,  edited  by  E.  B.  Washburne,  1884.     632  pp. 

IV.  Early  Chicago  and  Illinois,  1889.     400  pp.     Of  great  value. 

Childs,  Col.  Ebenezer.  Recollections  of  Wisconsin  since  1820. 
In  Wis.  Hist.  Coll.,  IV.,  1859,  153-95. 

The  writer  describes  Chicago  as  it  was  in  1S21,  at  which  time  he  visited  it. 

Christian  Spectator,  V.,  1823,  20-26.  Remarks  on  the  States 
of  Illinois  and  Missouri,  by  Edward  Hollister. 

The  author  had  recently  completed  a  missionary  tour  in  these  states,  and 
his  remarks  give  an  insight  into  the  social  conditions  of  the  time. 

Cobbett,  William.  A  Year's  Residence,  in  the  United  States 
of  America,     3d  ed.     London:  William  Cobbett,  1828.     370  pp. 

Cobbett  was  in  the  United  States  in  1S17-1S.  He  declared  that  Birkbeck 
and  Fearon  had  deceived  the  people  of  England  by  portraying  America  as 
better  than  it  was.      His  book  is  unfair. 

Coffin,  Levi.  Reminiscences  of  Levi  Coffin,  the  reputed  Presi- 
dent of  the  Underground  Railroad.  .  .  .  Cincinnati:  Western 
Tract  Society  [c.  1876].  2d  ed.  with  appendix.  Cincinnati :  Robert 
Clarke  6°  Co.,  1880.      732  pp. 

Pages  89-99  describe  the  author's  visit  to  a  Quaker  settlement  in  Sanga- 
mon county,  111.,  in  1S23.     Lost  on  the  prairies. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  217 

Collot,  Victor.  A  Journey  in  North  America,  containing  a 
Survey  of  the  Countries  watered  by  the  Mississippi,  Ohio,  Missouri, 
and  other  affluing  Rivers  .  .  .  Illustrated  by  36  Maps,  Plans, 
Views,  and  divers  Cuts.  Paris:  Arthus  Bertrand,  1826.  2  vols, 
and  atlas  in  one.     iv.4-310;  v. +  272  pp. 

The  author  traveled  through  Illinois  in  1796.  His  observations  were  acute 
and  are  more  helpful  than  would  be  expected  from  a  soldier  of  fortune.  The 
New  Orleans  Picayune  of  March  18,  1901,  has  a  valuable  article  on  the  jour- 
ney of  Collot  and  its  purpose.  See  his  Map  of  the  Country  of  the  Illinois,  in 
pocket. 

Columbian  Centinel.  Boston,  June- December,  1790;  1 79 1  — 
1801 ;  1802-  1829. 

The  issue  for  June  16,  1790,  has  a  note  on  the  current  experiments  with 
steamboats.     In  Library  of  Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society. 

Croghan,  George.  Journal,  1765.  In  Thwaites,  Early  west- 
ern Travels,  I.,  126-73.  Cleveland,  Ohio:  Arthur  H.  Clark  Com- 
pany, 1904. 

The  Journal  is  of  a  trip  to  the  West,  and  characterizes  the  early  French 
settlers. 

Cuming,  Fortescue.  Sketches  of  a  Tottr  to  the  western  Coun- 
try, .  .  .  commenced  at  Philadelphia  in  the  Winter  of  1807 
and  concluded  in  1809.  Pittsburg:  Cramer,  Spear  6°  Eichbaum, 
18 10.      i2mo.     504  pp. 

Describes  Shawneetown  and  gives  some  information  in  regard  to  routes. 
Very  slight,  however,  in  respect  to  Illinois.  Criticism:  The  Inter  Ocean, 
August  3,  1904. 

Cutler,  Julia  Perkins.  Life  and  Times  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 
Prepared  from  his  Journals  and  Correspondence.  Cincinnati :  Rob- 
ert Clarke  6°  Co.,  1890.     353  pp. 

Cutler  early  settled  in  Ohio.  This  work  gives  good  examples  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  travel,  between  1795  and  1809,  on  some  of  the  Alleghany  routes 
frequented  by  emigrants  to  Illinois,  The  driving  of  western  cattle  to  market 
is  also  described. 

Cutler,  William    Parker,    and  Cutler,    Julia    Perkins. 
Life,    Journals   and    Correspondence  of  Rev.   Manasseh    Cutler, 
16 


2l8  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

LI.  D.    Cincinnati:  Robert  Clarke &>  Co.,  1888.    2  vols.    9  +  524; 

495  PP- 

Considerable  information  concerning  early  eastern  opposition  to  western 
settlement  is  given.  Dr.  Cutler  kept  a  diary  from  1765  to  1823,  of  which 
nine  years  are  missing. 

De  Peyster,  J.  Watts,  LI,.  D.  Miscellanies,  by  an  Officer 
[Colonel  Arent  Schuyler  de  Peyster,  B.  A.],  1774-1813.  New 
York:  A.  E.  Chasmar  6°  Co.,  18SS.  80  pp.,  and  an  appendix  of 
cci.  pp. 

Pages  xxvi.  -xxvii.  contain  a  letter  from  Arent  De  Peyster  to  Capt. 
McKee  describing  an  Illinois  expedition  against  St.  Josephs  in  1780  or  1781. 
Letter  dated  Detroit,  Feb.  1,  1781. 

Draper  Collection  of  Manuscripts. 

This  collection,  made  by  Lyman  C.  Draper,  is  the  property  of  the  State 
Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin.  It  has  been  of  more  value  to  the  writer 
than  any  other  single  source,  being  especially  helpful  for  the  hitherto  obscure 
period  immediately  succeeding  the  expedition  of  George  Rogers  Clark,  1 779— 
1790.  Most  important  of  all  are  the  Harmar  Papers,  although  the  Illinois 
MSS.,  the  Clark  MSS.,  and  Draper's  Notes  were  much  used.  The  Hinde 
MSS.  have  little  historical  value,  consisting  as  they  do,  largely  of  religious 
musings  of  the  writer's  old  age. 

Duden,  Gottfried.  Bericht  iiber  eine  Reisenach  den  westlichen 
Staaten  Nor  darner  ikrfs  und  cinen  mehrjahrigen  Aufenthalt  am 
Missouri  (in  den  Jahren  1824-1827)  in  Bezug  auf  Auswanderung 
und  Uebervolkerung.  1st  ed.  of  ijoo  copies.  2d  ed.  Bonn,  In 
Commission  bci  Eduard  Weber,  1834.     lviii.  -f-  404  PP- 

Contains  a  prediction  of  Illinois'  future  greatness.  Gives  valuable  informa- 
tion concerning  the  cost  and  manner  of  transportation,  and  concerning  social 
life.      Comparison  of  American  and  European  conditions. 

Dunn,  Jacob  Piatt,  Compiler.  Slavery  Petitions  and  Papers. 
In  Indiana  Hist.  Soc.  Pub.,  II.,  443-529.  Indianapolis:  The 
Bowen- Merrill  Company,  1894. 

"The  following  papers  are  the  petitions  to  Congress  from  Northwest  and 
Indiana  Territories  for  the  suspension  of  the  sixth  article  of  compact  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,  and  the  admission  of  slavery  to  the  Territory,  together 
with  the  counter -petitions,  the  reports  on  them,  and  the  accompanying  docu- 
ments."—  Compiler's  introduction. 


WORKS    CONSULTED.  219 

Edwardsvitte  Spectator.  Edwardsville,  III.:  Hooper  JVarren, 
pub.,  Apr.  18,  1820 — Feb.  8,  1825,  and  1820-22. 

Material  has  been  gleaned  from  the  issues  of  Nov.  7,  1820;  August  31, 
1822;  Nov.  30,  1822;  Nov.  29,  1823;  "Jan.  27,  1824;  and  Oct  5,  1824.  In 
Library  of  Chicago  Historical  Society. 

Ernst,  Ferdinand.  Travels  in  Illinois  in  i8ig.  Translation 
from  the  German  Original.  In  Pub.  No.  8  of  the  III.  Hist.  lib. 
pp.  150-65.      Springfield,  III.:  Phillips  Bros  ,  1904. 

Ernst  was  the  leader  of  a  party  of  German  immigrants  who  settled  at  Van- 
dalia  soon  after  his  journey  to  Illinois.  He  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
rapidly  settling  Illinois  with  its  squatters  and  its  fertile  and  inviting  land. 
He  visited  the  Sangamo  country  and  the  Kickapoo  United  States  treaty  con- 
ference. 

Faux,  W.  Memorable  Days  in  America:  being  a  Journal  of  a 
Tour  to  the  United  States,  principally  undertaken  to  ascertain,  by 
positive  Evidence,  the  Condition  and  probable  Prospects  of  British 
Emigrants;  including  Accountsyf  Mr.  Birkbeck's  Settlement  in  the 
Illinois  .  .  .  London:  IV.  Simpkiti  &  P.  Marshall,  1823. 
488  pp. 

Sufficiently  pessimistic  to  require  cautious  use.  The  journey  was  per- 
formed in  1819-20. 

Fay,  H.  A.  Collection  of  the  official  Accounts,  in  Detail,  of  all  the 
Battles  fought  by  Sea  and  land,  between  the  Navy  and  Army  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  Navy  and  Army  of  Great  Britain,  during 
the  Years  18 12,  13,  14,  &  15.  New  York:  E.  Conrad,  181 7. 
295  pp. 

Contains  Capt.  Ileald's  official  report  of  the  massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn, 
August  15,  1812,  and  Col.  Russell's  official  report  of  Gov.  Edwards'  attack 
on  the  Indians  near  Peoria  in  1812. 

Fearon,  Henry  Bradshaw.  Sketches  of  America.  A  Narrative 
of  a  Journey  of  five  thousand  Miles  through  the  eastern  and  western 
States  of  America  .  .  .  With  Remarks  on  Mr.  Birkbeck's 
'■Notes''  and  il Letters."  jd  ed.  London:  Strahan  and  Spottiswoode, 
1819.     xv.  +  454pp. 

The  work  gives  a  glimpse  of  Illinois  through  a  foreigner's  eye.      Fearon 


220  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

paints  in  sober  colors,  but  his  values  are  fairly  true.      Of  considerable  value 
as  a  work  on  society  in  the  U.  S.  in  1817-18. 

Flint,  James.  Letters  from  America,  containing  Observations 
on  the  Climate  and  Agriculture  of  the  western  States,  the  Manners  of 
the  People,  and  the  Prospects  of  Emigrants,  &*c,  &c.  Edinburgh: 
W.  6r  C.  Tait,  1822.      i6mo.      330  pp. 

The  author  probably  did  not  reach  Illinois,  but  his  letters  from  Ohio, 
Indiana  and  Kentucky  give  interesting  bits  of  information  in  regard  to  the 
manner  and  cost  of  travel  — 181 8  to  1820. 

Flower,  George.  History  of  the  English  Settlement  iti  Edwards 
County,  Illinois,  founded  in  1817  and  1818,  by  Morris  Birkbeck 
and  George  Flower.  Chicago:  Fergus  Printing  Co.,  1882.  i6mo. 
401  pp. 

The  work  is  volume  I.  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society's  Collections. 
The  best  book  on  this  important  episode  in  immigration  to  Illinois. 

Flower,  Richard.  Letters  from  Lexington  and  the  Illinois, 
containing  a  brief  Account  of  the  English  Settlement  in  the  latter 
Territory,  and  a  Refutation  of  the  Misrepresentations  of  Mr.  Cobbett. 
London:  J.  Rigdway,  18 19.     iv.  +  32  pp. 

Two  letters  —  one  from  Lexington  and  the  other  from  New  Albion,  111. 
Highly  colored. 

Forsyth,  Maj.  Thomas,  Lndian  Agent.  Journal  of  a  Voyage 
from  St.  Louis  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  in  181Q.  In  Wis. 
Hist.  Coll.,  VI.,  188-215.  Madison,  Wis.:  Atwood  &*  Culver, 
State  Printers,  1872. 

Incidentally  the  writer  gives  an  account  of  the  atrocities  committed  in  1812 
by  Capt.  Thomas  E.  Craig  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Peoria.  Forsyth  was  an 
eye-witness  of  the  barbarities  described. 

Galena  Advertiser.  Galena,  III.  Pub.  by  H.  Newhall,  Philleo 
and  Co.,  July  20,  1829 — May  24,  1830,  arid  July  20,  1829  — 
May  10,  1830. 

July  20,  July  27,  August  10,  Sept.  14,  Sept.  21,  1829,  have  been  used.  In 
Library  of  Chicago  Historical  Society. 

Galena  (III.)  Weekly  Gazette. 
The  issue  for  May  2,  1879,  contains  reminiscences  of  Mrs.  Adile  B.  Gratiot, 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  221 

whose  husband  settled  in  Galena,  111.,  in  1825.  This  account  furnishes  a 
valuable  bit  of  reliable  history.  It  describes  Galena,  northern  Illinois,  a  Fourth 
of  July  celebration  (1826),  the  coming  of  Lord  Selkirk's  colonists,  and  the 
trouble  with  the  Sauk  Indians  (1827). 

Gillespie,  Hon.  Joseph.  Recollections  of  early  Illinois  and 
her  noted  Men.  Fergus  hist.  Series,  No.  13.  51  pp.  Chicago: 
Fergus  Printing  Co.,  1880. 

Valuable  because  of  the  author's  direct  knowledge  of  persons  and  events. 

Goodrich,  Samuel  Griswold.  Recollections  of  a  Life  Time; 
or,  Men  and  Things  I  have  seen :  in  a  Series  of  Letters  to  a  Friend, 
historical,  biographical,  anecdotal,  and  descriptive.  New  York: 
Miller,  Orton  &*  Co.,  1857.     2  vols.     542,  563  pp. 

Letter  XXXIII.  describes  the  emigration  from  East  to  West  in  1816-17. 

Gratiot,  Mrs.  Adile.     Ln  early  Illinois  (Towns). 

A  volume  of  newspaper  clippings  in  the  Library  of  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society.  Mrs.  Gratiot,  who  early  lived  in  Galena,  gives  reminiscences  of 
her  life  there.     Describes  the  trouble  with  the  Winnebago  Indians. 

Hall,  James.  Letters  from  the  West;  containing  Sketches  of 
Scenery,  Manners,  and  Customs;  and  Anecdotes  connected  with  the 
first  Settlements  of  the  western  Sections  of  the  United  States.  London  : 
Henry  Colburn,  1828.      i6mo.     385  pp. 

Verbose,  but  not  without  value.  One  of  the  twenty -two  letters  is  from 
Shawneetown  and  describes  the  vicinity.  Illinois  is  defended  from  her  foreign 
detractors.     Routes  and  manner  of  travel  receive  much  attention. 

Hamilton,  Henry  Edward.  Incidents  and  Events  in  the  Life 
of  Gurdon  Saltonstall  Hubbard,  collected  from  personal  Narrations 
and  other  Sources,  and  arranged  by  his  Nephezu,  Henry  E.  Hamil- 
ton.    Chicago:  Rand,  McNally  &>  Co.,  1888.      189  pp. 

Very  valuable  for  the  history  of  northern  and  eastern  Illinois  from  181 8  to 
the  close  of  the  Black  Hawk  war.  Most  of  the  work  is  autobiographical. 
Mr.  Hubbard  was  an  employee  of  the  American  Fur  Company.  Later  he  was 
in  business  in  Danville  and  Chicago. 

Harding,  Benjamin.  A.  Tour  through  the  Western  Country, 
A.  D.  1818  6°  i8ig.  New  London:  Samuel  Green,  1819.  8vo. 
17  pp. 

The  inducements  which  Illinois  offered  to  emigrants  are  described  with  a 


222  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

degree  of  sense  rarely  displayed  in  the  period  to  which  the  work  belongs  by 
writers  of  advice  to  emigrants.  The  American  Bottom  and  the  prairies  are 
described. 

Harris,  William  Tell.  Remarks  made  during  a  Tour  through 
the.  United  States  of  America,  in  the  Years  i8ij,  1818,  and  18 19. 

Describes  Shawneetown  (1818),  and  speaks  of  the  great  number  of  wagons, 
horses,  and  passengers  which  crossed  the  ferry  there. 

Hecke,  J.  Val.     Reise  durch  die  Vereinigten  Staaten  von  Nord- 
Amerika  in  den    Jahren   181 8   und   181  p.     Nebst  einer  kurzen 
Uebersicht  der  ?ieuesten  Ercignisse  auf  dem  Kriegs -  Schauplatz  in 
Sud-Amerika  und  West-Indien.     Berlin:  H.  Ph.  Petri,  1820-21. 
2  vols.      i6mo.     I.,  228;  II.,  xvi.  +  326.  pp. 

Interesting  and  incorrect.  The  author  tells  well  both  of  what  he  knows 
and  what  he  does  not  know.     Tells  foreigners  how  to  reach  Illinois. 

Henry,  William  Wirt.  Patrick  Henry.  Life,  Correspondence, 
and  Speeches.  New  York;  Charles  Scribncrs  Sons,  1891.  3  vols. 
I.,  20  +  622;  II.,  652;  III.,  672  pp. 

The  third  volume  contains  instructions  issued  by  Gov.  Henry  to  officers  of 
the  County  of  Illinois,  and  some  correspondence  of  those  officers. 

Historical  Register  of  the  United  States.  Philadelphia:  G- 
Palmer,  1814-1816. 

II.,  60-62  (second  pagination)  gives  Capt.  Heald's  official  report  of  the 
massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn  on  August  15,  1812. 

Hodgson,  Adam.  Remarks  during  a  j^ourney  through  North 
America  in  the  Years  1819-21,  in  a  Series  of  Letters:  with  an 
Appendix,  containing  an  Account  of  several  of  the  Indian  Tribes, 
and  the  principal  missionary  Stations,  6°r.  New  York:  Samuel 
Whiting,  1823.      8vo.     iv.  +  335  pp. 

The  author  did  not  visit  Illinois,  but  he  gives  an  interesting  criticism  of 
Mr.  Birkbeck's  venture  in  Illinois.  lie  conversed  with  persons  who  had  visited 
Birkbeck's  settlement.     Criticism  rather  unfavorable. 

Holmes,  Isaac.  An  Account  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
[1823]  derived  from  actual  Observation,  during  a  Residence  of 
four  Years  in  that  Republic:  including  original  Conwiunications. 
London:  Caxton  Press,  1823.      i6mo.      viii.  +  47 6  pp. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  223 

Most  of  the  author's  remarks  are  general.  He,  however,  mentions  Birk- 
beck  and  advises  emigrants  to  settle  in  the  East  rather  than  to  go  West  as 
Birkbeck  advised. 

Hulme,  Thomas.  Journal.  In  Cobbett,  "A  Year's  Residence 
in  the  United  States  of  America,"  259-309.  3d  ed.  Andover: 
B.  Bensley,  1828. 

The  Journal  was  of  a  journey  through  the  West  in  181 7.  Birkbeck's  set- 
tlement and  the  manner  of  traveling  were  described.  Some  information  in 
regard  to  prices  was  given. 

Hutchins,  Capt.  Thomas.  A  topographical  Description  of 
Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  North  Carolina,  compre- 
hending the  Rivers  Ohio,  Kenhawa,  Sioto,  Cherokee,  Wabash,  Illi- 
nois, Mississippi,  etc.  .  .  .  With  a  Plan  of  the  Rapids  of  the 
Ohio,  a  Plan  of  the  several  Villages  in  the  Illinois  Country  .  .  . 
and  an  Appendix  containing  Air.  Patrick  Kennedy's  Journal  up 
the  Illinois  River.     Ion  don :  T.  Hutchins,  1778.     8vo.     67  pp. 

Valuable  for  its  map  of  the  Illinois  country  and  a  description  of  the  settle- 
ments. 

Illinois  and  Wabash  Land  Companies: — ■ 

An  Account  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Illinois  and  Ouabache  land 
Companies,  in  Pursuance  of  their  Purchases  made  of  the  inde- 
pendent Natives,  July  jth,  17  J -j,  and  18th  October,  177 J.  Phila- 
delphia: JVilliam  Young,  1796.     55  pp. 

Memorial  of  the  Illinois  and  Wabash  land  Company,  ijth 
January,  1797.  Referred  to  Mr.  Jeremiah  Smith,  Mr.  Kittera, 
and  Mr.  Baldwin.  Published  by  Order  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives.    Philadelphia:  Richard  Folwcll,   [c.  1797.]     26  pp. 

An  Accoimt  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Illinois  and  Ouabache  land 
Companies,  in  Pursuance   of  their   Purchases    made  of  the  inde- 
pendent Natives,  July  5th,  1773,  and  18th  October,  1775.     Phila- 
delphia: William  Duane,  1803.      74  pp. 

Memorial  of  the  Illinois  and  Ouabache  land  Companies  to  the 
honorable  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Intended  as  a  full 
Recapitulation  and  clear  Statement  of  the  former  Addresses,  Peti- 


224  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Horn,  Memorials,  &>c,  of  the  Company;  and  their  short  and  final 
Prayer  for  Redress,  without  Delay:  pr-esented  at  the  Sessions, 
1802.      20  pp. 

Memorial  of  the  United  Illinois  and  Wabash  Land  Companies,  to 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States. 
Baltimore:  Joseph  Robinson,  1816.     48  pp. 

Illinois,  House  Journal,  1824-25.  Vandalia,  III.:  Robert  Black- 
well  &>  Co.,  1824.     305  pp. 

Contains  items  on  slavery  (pp.  13,  15 1-2),  and  tells  of  the  election  of  a 
U.  S.  senator  to  succeed  Ninian  Edwards  (pp.  38-9). 

Illinois  Intelligencer.     Edwardsville,  III.:  Hooper  Warren,   ed., 
1826-30. 
In  St.  Louis  Mercantile  Library. 
Illinois  Laws,  1824-25.      190  pp. 

Pages  50-51  give  the  text  of  an  act  to  amend  an  act  entitled  "An  act  respect- 
ing free  Negroes,  Mulattoes,  Servants,  and  Slaves,"  approved  30th  March, 
1819. 

Illinois  monthly  Magazine.  Vandalia,  III.:  conducted  by  James 
Hall. 

Notes  on  Illinois  in  Volumes  I.  and  II.  (1830- 1832)  and  the  History  of  St. 
Louis  in  Volume  II.  are  of  some  service.  The  articles  are,  however, 
unsigned,  and  are  of  too  popular  a  type  to  be  wholly  relied  upon. 

Illinois  Revised  Laws  of  1833.  Vandalia,  III.:  Greiner  & 
Sherman,  1833.     677  pp.  and  index. 

Contains  the  negro  codes  of  18 19  and  1829,  respectively. 

Imlay,  Gilbert.  A  topographical  Description  of  the  Western 
Territory  of  North  America,  containing  a  succinct  Account  of  its 
Climate,  natural  History,  Population,  Agriculture,  Manners  and 
Customs.  London:  J.  Debrett,  1792.  8vo.  xv.  +  247  pp.  3d 
ed.,  1797,  enlarged.     More  valuable. 

The  best  early  authority  on  the  subject  treated.  Not  very  full  in  regard  to 
Illinois.      Predicts  western  state -making. 

Keating,  William  H.  Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the 
Source   of  St.  Peter's  River,  Lake  Winnepeek,  Lake  of  the  Woods, 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  225 

cw.,  6°£,  performed  in  the  Year  182J  .  .  .  eo  in  piled  from 
the  Notes  of  Major  Long,  Messrs.  Say,  Keating,  and  Colhoun. 
Philadelphia:  Carey  &*  Lea,  1824.  2  vols.  8vo.  I.,  xii.  +  439; 
II.,  459  pp.     Same,-  London :  Whittaker,  1825. 

Contains  an  extremely  interesting  and  important  description  of  Chicago  and 
its  vicinity,  and  in  less  detail,  of  northern  Illinois. 

Kinzie,  Mrs.  John  H.  (Juliette  A.  McGill  Kinzie).  Wau- 
Bicn,  the  "Early  Day"  in  the  North -West.  New  edition  with  an 
introduction  and  notes  by  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites.  Chicago:  The 
Caxton  Club,  1901.     xxvii. +  451  pp. 

This  work,  which  first  appeared  in  1856,  has  the  best  account,  not  by  an 
eye-witness,  of  the  massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn  in  1S12.  Mrs.  Helm  gives 
this  account. 

Narrative  of  the  Massacre  at  Chicago,  August  15,  181 2, 

and  of  some  preceding  Ez'enls.      Chicago:  Ellis   6°   Fergus,  1844. 

34  PP- 

A  valuable  account,  written  by  Mrs.  Kinzie  from  the  dictation  of  her 
mother-in-law,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  the  massacre.  Incorporated 
almost  verbatim  in  Mrs.  Kmzie's  "Wau-Bun."  The  edition  of  1844  was 
the  first,  not  the  second,  as  stated  in  the  Chicago  Magazine,  I.,  103,  and 
repeated  by  Dr.  Thwaites. 

Laussat,  Count.  The  military  Title  of  Louisiana  and  the 
Territory  of  Lllinois,  dated  New  Orleans,  Jan.  12,  1804,  and 
signed  by  Count  Laussat,  Napoleon s  Ambassador.  Lt  is  also  the 
order  to  Gen.  De  Lassus  to  deliver  the  Territo?y  over  to  Capt.  Amos 
Stoddard,  of  the  U.  S.  Artillery. 

Original  manuscript  letter,  in  French,  in  the  Illinois  State  Historical 
Library,  Springfield,  111. 

Loomis,  Chester  A.  The  Notes  of  a  Journey  to  the  Great 
West  in  1825.  28  unnumbered  pages,  six  chapters.  Printed 
without  place,  name  of  publisher,  or  date. 

The  writer  entered  Illinois  in  the  present  Vermilion  county,  went  south  to 
the  Wabash,  west  to  Vandalia,  then  to  Kaskaskia.  His  observations  are 
acute  and  readable.  Describes  Vermilion  county  salines,  Illinois  farm  pro- 
ducts, pioneer  homes,  and  the  inconvenience  attendant  upon  traveling  on 
horseback.  Bound  with  other  pamphlets  in  the  Champaign  (Illinois)  Public 
Library.  \  n 


226  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

A  Journey  on  Horseback  through  the  Great  West,  in  1825. 


Visiting  Alleghany  Towns,  Olean,  Warren,  Franklin,  Pittsburg, 
New  Lisbon,  Elyria,  Norfolk,  Columbus,  Zanesville,  Vermilion, 
Kaskaskia,  Vandalia,  Sandusky,  and  many  other  places.  Bath, 
N  Y.:  Plaindealer  Press.     27  unnumbered  pages. 

The  writer  was  from  Rushville,  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.  Same  as  the  pre- 
ceding.    In  Library  of  State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin. 

McLean  County  Historical  Society,  Transactions  of  the.  Vol.  II. 
Bloominghvi,  III.:  Pantograph  Printing  and  Stationery  Co.,  1903. 
695  pages. 

Some  facts  of  interest  concerning  the  first  school  in  the  county,  and  the 
early  settlers  and  their^manner  of  living,  are  given  by  those  old  settlers  who 
were  chief  actors. 

Mandements  des  Eveques  de  Quebec.  Quebec:  Imprimerie  Gen- 
erate A.  Cole  et  Cie.,  1887-S8.  I.,  (1659-1740),  588;  II.,  (1741- 
1806),  566;  III.,  (1806-1850),  635;  IV.,  (1850-1870),  794  pp. 
A  valuable  collection  of  manuscripts.  They  tell  of  a  monopoly  on  sending 
missionaries  to  Illinois,  and  one  letter  (II.,  205)  gives  a  good  idea  of  the 
worldliness  of  the  Kaskaskians  of  1767.  The  first  two  volumes  alone  con- 
cern us. 

Mason,  Edward  G.  (Editor).  Early  Chicago  and  Lllinois. 
Chicago:  Fergus  Printing  Co.,  1S90.      521  pp. 

This  volume  is  the  fourth  of  the  collections  of  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society.  It  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  collections  for  the  study  of  early 
Illinois  history.  Contains,  among  other  things,  Pierre  Menard  Papers,  John 
Todd  Papers,  John  Todd's  Record -Book,  Lists  of  Early  Illinois  Citizens, 
and  Rocheblave  Papers. 

Meeker,  Dr.  Moses.  Early  History  of  the  Lead  Region  of 
Wisconsin.  In  Wis.  LList.  Coll.,  VI.,  271-96.  Madison,  Wis.: 
Atwood  6°  Culver,  State  Printers,  1872. 

Very  valuable.  Dr.  Meeker  came  to  Galena  in  1822  and  settled  there  in 
1823.  The  article  gives  the  history  of  the  settlement  of  the  lead  region  to 
1825. 

Michigan  pioneer   and  historical   Collections.     Lansing,   Mich., 
1877-1900.      29  vols. 
Valuable  for  the  French  and  British  periods  of  Illinois  history. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  227 

Mount  Carmel,  Articles  of  Association,  for  the  City  of.  Chilli- 
cothe:  John  Bailhache,  181 7.     4to.      22  pp. 

Mt.  Carmel  was  to  be,  and  now  is,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Wabash  in 
what  is  now  Wabash  county,  Illinois.  The  articles  drawn  up  by  the  proprie- 
tors and  their  agent  contain  curious  provisions  in  regard  to  the  support  of 
church  and  school.  Some  Puritanic  rules  are  given.  (In  ///.  Local  t/ist. 
Patn.,  VII.,  in  Library  of  Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society.) 

Niles'  weekly  Register,  Baltimore. 

Of  great  value  for  the  period  1S11-1S30.  Its  notices  of  foreign  immigra- 
tion are  extensive. 

Ogden,  George  W.  Letters  from  the  West.  New -Bedford: 
Melcher  <S°  Rogers,  1823.      126  pp. 

Describes  several  of  the  Illinois  towns,  and  characterizes  their  inhabitants. 
A  part  of  the  work  is  plagiarized  from  Harding,  Tour  through  the  western 
Country.      Reprinted  in  Thwaites,  Early  wester ti  Travels,  XIX. 

Olden  Time,  I.,  1846,  403-15.  George  Croghan's  'journal  of 
his  Route. 

Interesting  sketches  of  the  French. 

Owen,  A.  R.  Urns  Jahr  i8iq  una  i82g.  In  Deutsch-Ameri- 
kanische  Geschichtsbldtter,  Jahrgang  2,  Heft  2,  pp.  41-43.  Chicago : 
April,  1902. 

Not  sufficiently  definite,  reliable,  or  extensive  to  be  of  much  value. 

Palmer,  John.  Journal  of  Travels  in  the  United  States  of 
North  America  and  in  Lower  Canada,  performed  in  the  year  1817. 
London:  Sherwood,  Neely,  and  Jones,  1818.     viL  +  456  pp. 

Pages  41 1-20  are  on  Illinois.  Too  inaccurate  to  be  of  great  value,  although 
some  information  in  regard  to  roads  may  be  used.  Tells  of  routes,  methods, 
and  cost  of  travel. 

Palmer,  John  McCauley.  Personal  Recollections  of  John  M. 
Palmer.      Cincinnati:  The  Robert  Clarke  Co.,  1901.     631  pp. 

The  writer  came  to  Illinois  in  1831,  but  he  had  previously  lived  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  he  gives  some  facts  concerning  slavery  that  are  of  value. 

Parkison,  Col.  Daniel  M.  Pioneer  Life  in  Wisconsin.  In 
Wis.  Hist.  Coll.,  II.,  326-64.  Madison,  Wis.:  Calkins  6° 
Proudfit,  1856. 


228  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

The  author  came  from  Tennessee  to  Madison  county,  Illinois,  in  1817;  in 
1819,  to  Sangamon  county,  Illinois;  in  1827,  to  Galena,  Illinois.  Gives  a 
valuable  statement  concerning  the  feeling  of  Yankees  toward  Southerners, 
tells  of  the  first  sermon  in  Sangamon  county,  and  of  the  Winnebago  war  of 

1S27. 

Peck,  Rev.  John  Mason.  A  Guide  for  Emigrants  (1831),  con- 
taining Sketches  of  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  the  adjace?it  Parts. 
Boston:  Lincoln  6°  Edmands,  1831.     336  pp. 

Contains  a  great  amount  of  fairly  accurate  information.  Its  description  of 
cities  is  especially  useful.  Page  184  gives  an  amusing  and  instructive  illustra- 
tion of  the  need  of  energy  and  work  in  even  a  frontier  settlement  (1829). 

Memoir  of  John  Mason  Peck,  D.  D.,  edited  from   his 


Journals  and  Correspondence.     By  Rufus  Babcock.     Philadelphia: 
Am.  Baptist  Pub.  Soc,  1864.      i2mo.     360  pp. 

Not  in  good  literary  form.  Throws  much  light  upon  the  moral  and 
religious  life  in  Illinois  and  Missouri  from  181 7  to  1857. 

The  Religion  and  Morals  of  Illinois  prior  to  18 18.       In 

Reynolds,  Pioneer  History  of  Illinois,     pp.  253-275. 

The  writer  came  to  Illinois  before  1818,  and  knew  many  of  the  persons  of 
whom  he  wrote. 

Pennsylvania  Packet  and  daily  Advertiser.  Philadelphia,  1 785— 
89;  Apr.,  1789;  Mar.,  1 7 90  ;  Apr. -Dec,  1790.  In  Library  of 
Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society. 

August  23,  1790,  the  expression  of  apprehension  of  the  depopulation  of 
the  East  by  emigration  to  the  West  is  said  not  to  be  well  founded. 

Peoria  County,  Illinois,  Marriage  licences,  182J-18JJ.  On  file 
in  the  court  house  in  Peoria,  111. 

The  early  names  show  the  French  origin  of  the  inhabitants.  The  absence 
of  clergymen  is  noticeable. 

Pike,  Lieut.  Zebulon  Montgomery.  An  Account  of  a  Voyage 
up  the  Mississippi  River,  from  \t.  Louis  to  its  Source;  made  under 
the  Orders  of  the  War  Department,  by  Lieut.  Pike,  of  the  U.  S. 
Army,  in  the  Years  180 J  and  1806.  Compiled  from  Mr.  Pike's 
Journal.      A  68  page  pamphlet  without  nlace,  publisher,  or  date. 

Locates  the  largest  Sauk  village.     These  reports  are  of  extreme  importance. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  229 

An  edition  including  the  trip  of  1807  was  issued  in  1895  by  Harper,  F.  P., 
New  York.     3  vols.     $10.00. 

Pioneer  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  The.  Rock  Spring,  III. : 
Rev.  J.  M.  Peek,  editor. 

Issue  of  April  24,  1829,  in  St.  Louis  Mercantile  Library. 

Pittman,  Capt.  Philip.  The  present  State  of  the  European 
Settlements  on  the  Mississippi,  with  a  geographical  Description  of 
that  River;  illustrated  by  Plans  and  Draughts.  London:  J. 
Nourse,  1770.     viii.  +  99  PP-     8  maps. 

Describes  the  settlements  in  Illinois  and  gives  a  map  of  the  region.  Of 
great  value. 

Criticism  in  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  VI.,  702. 

Regulators  of  the  Valley. 

Charles  M.  Eames,  in  his  Historic  Morgan  and  Classic  facksonville  (1885), 
says  that  a  vigilance  committee  with  the  above  title  was  formed  in  1821,  or 
thereabouts,  to  rid  the  country  of  horse -thieves  and  robbers.  "A  regular 
constitution  was  drawn  up  and  subscribed  to,  and  this  paper  is  still  in  exist- 
ence. "  C.  M.  Eames,  son  of  the  now  deceased  author,  in  a  letter  of  Oct.  7, 
1903,  said  that  he  had  made  an  unsuccessful  search  for  the  manuscript. 

Reynolds,  John.  My  own  Times,  embracing  also,  the  History 
of  my  Life.  Belleville,  Lll.,  1855.  Reprinted,  Chicago:  Fergus 
Printing  Co.,  1879.     1V.  +  395  pp.     $7-5°- 

Verbose,  but  has  much  wheat  among  the  chaff.  Covers  the  period  from 
1800  to  1853.     The  first  edition  is  now  very  rare. 

Ross,  Harvey  Lee.  The  early  Pioneers  and  pioneer  Events  of 
the  State  of  Illinois.     Chicago,  1899. 

A  medley  of  facts,  written  by  a  pioneer  of  1820.  The  author  was 
acquainted  with  both  Cartwriyht  and  Lincoln,  and  speaks  of  them  and  of 
pioneer  events  with  authority,      fells  of  a  trip  from  New  Jersey  by  wagons. 

Schoolcraft,  Henry  Rowe.  Sutntnary  Narrative  of  an 
exploratory  Expeditwti  to  the  Sources  of  the  Mississippi  River,  in 
1820;  resumed  and  completed,  by  the  Discovery  of  its  Origin  in 
Itasca  Lake,  in  1832.  By  authority  of  the  United  States.  Phila- 
delphia: Lippincott,  Grambo,  &  Co.,  1855.      596  pp. 

The  book  is  chiefly  of  interest  to  us  because  of  its  description  of  Chicago. 


230  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

Travels  in  the  central  Portions  of  the  Mississippi  Valley : 


comprising  Observations  on  its  mineral  Geography,  internal 
Resources,  and  aboriginal  Population.  Performed  under  the  Sanc- 
tion of  Government,  in  the  Year  1821.  New  York:  Collins  & 
Hannay,  1825.     459  pp. 

The  writer  descended  the  Wabash,  the  Ohio,  and  then  ascended  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  Illinois  to  Chicago.  His  descriptions  of  places,  peoples  and 
things  are  well  written  and  are  a  chief  historical  source. 

Schultz,  Christian.  Travels  on  an  inland  Voyage  through 
the  States  of  New-York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
and  Tennessee,  and  through  the  Territories  of  Indiana,  Louisiana, 
Mississippi  and  New-Orleans ;  performed  in  the  Years  1807  and 
1808.  New  York:  Isaac  Riley,  1810.  2  vols.  I.,  xviiL-f-206; 
II.,  224  pp. 

Has  an  interesting  description  of  Illinois  settlements. 

Smith,  William  Henry,  Editor.  The  St.  Clair  Papers.  The 
Life  and  public  Services  of  Arthur  St.  Clair  .  .  .  with  his 
Correspondence  and  other  Papers.  Cincinnati :  Robert  Clarke  &> 
Co.,  1882.      2  vols.      I.,  viiL  +  609;  II.,  649  pp. 

Much  information  concerning  Illinois  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  Crit- 
icisms: Nation,  XXXIV.,  383;  New  York  Tribune,  June  16,  1882. 

Stories  of  the  pioneer  Mothers  of  -Lllinois.  A  collection  of  Manu- 
script Letters  from  the  pioneer  Women  of  the  State,  giving  their 
early  Experiences.  Collected  for  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition 
and  afterward  deposited  in  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Library. 

Especially  valuable  for  information  on  reasons  for  immigration  and  on 
methods  of  traveling. 

Storrow,  Samuel  A.  The  North-West  in  18  17.  In  Wis. 
Hist.  Coll.,  VI.,  pp.  154-87.  Madison,  Wis.:  Atwood  6^  Culver, 
State  Printers,  1872. 

The  narrative,  which  is  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  Maj.-Gen.  Brown,  was 
first  published  in  pamphlet  form.  The  letter  is  dated  Dec.  1,  1817.  It  deals 
chiefly  with  the  country  to  the  north  of  Illinois,  but  the  author  visited  Chi- 
cago, was  entertained  at  Fort  Dearborn,  and  wrote  of  the  desirability  of  an 
Illinois- Michigan  canal. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  23 1 

Tenney,  H.  A.  Early  Times  in  Wisconsin.  In  Wis.  Hist. 
Coil.,  I.,  pp.  94-102.     Madison,  Wis.:  Beriah  Brown,  1855. 

Written  in  1849.  Gives  considerable  information  concerning  the  Galena 
region.  Tells  of  the  size  of  Galena  and  of  Springfield,  111.,  in  1822.  Criti- 
cism: Draper  MSS.,Z  24. 

Thomas,  Judge  William.  Reminiscences.  Printed  in  the 
Jacksonville,  111.,  Weekly  Journal,  Apr.  18,  1877.  Clipping 
bound  in  III.  Local  Hist.  Pamphlets,  V.,  in  Library  of  Wisconsin 
State  Historical  Society. 

The  article  is  of  extreme  interest  to  a  student  of  early  society  in  Illinois. 
The  author  settled  in  Jacksonville,  111.,  in  1826.  His  observations  were  unus- 
ually acute.  He  was  a  lawyer  and  a  teacher.  He  tells  of  Yankees  vs. 
Southerners,  of  early  lawlessness,  and  of  early  Galena. 

Winnebago  Outbreak  of  1827.     In  Chicago   Tribune,  Apr. 

7,  1877.     Reprinted  from  the  Jacksonville  (III.)  Journal  of  Aug. 
17,  1871. 

The  article  is  important  because  the  writer  was  a  volunteer  in  the  campaign 
against  the  Winnebagoes. 

Thwaites,  Reuben  Gold.  Narrative  of  Morgan  L.  Martin. 
In  an  Interview  with  the  Editor  [Thwaites].  In  Wis.  Hist.  Coll., 
XI.,  pp.  385-415.  Madison,  Wis.:  Democrat  Printing  Co.,  State 
Printers,  1888. 

Pa5e  398  gives  an  estimate  of  the  population  of  Galena,  which  Martin 
visited  in  1829. 

Tillson,  Christiana  Holmes.  Reminiscences  of  early  Life  hi 
Illinois.     Privately  printed — as  late  as  1870.     iv.  +  138  pp. 

A  very  rare  book.  Copy  in  the  Chicago  Historical  Society  Library.  The 
best  book  I  know  of  from  which  to  secure  a  knowledge  of  life  in  Illinois 
from  1822  to  1827.  The  writer  was  observant,  and  her  command  of  English 
is  far  superior  to  that  of  many  old  persons  who  write  reminiscences.  Of 
great  value. 

VanZandt,  Nicholas  Biddle.  A  full  Description  of  the 
Soil,  Water,  Timber,  and  Prairies  of  each  Lot,  or  quarter  Section 
of  the  Military  Lands  between  the  Mississippi  and  Illinois  Rivers. 
Washington  City:  P.  Force,  1818.     8vo.      127  pp. 


232  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Rare  and  valuable.  Pages  109-25  contain  a  venomous  account  of  Birk- 
beck's  settlement  in  Illinois.    In  Library  of  Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society. 

Vermont.  Records  of  the  Council  of  Safety  and  Governor  and 
Council  of  the  State  of  Vermont,  to  which  are  prefixed  the  Records 
of  the  general  Conventions  from  July,  1775,  to  December,  1777. 
Montpelier:  J.  &  J.  M.  Poland,  1873-80.     8  vols. 

Vol.  VI. ,  431-2  contains  remarks  of  Governor  Galusha  on  the  scarcity  of 
food  in  1S16. 

Virginia  Patriot  and  Richmond  mercantile  Advertiser.  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  Apr- Dec,  1816.  In  Library  of  Wisconsin  State 
Historical  Society. 

Sept.  7,  11,  21,  1816,  tell  of  the  cold  in  New  England  and  the  drought  in 
the  South. 

Volney,  Constantin  Francois  Chasse-bceuf.  A  View  of 
the  Soil  and  Climate  of  the  United  States  of  America:  with  supple- 
mentary Remarks  upon  Florida;  on  the  French  Colonies  on  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio,  and  in  Canada;  and  on  the  aboriginal  Tribes 
of  America.     Philadelphia,  1804.     London,  1804.     xxv.  +  446  pp. 

Translated  by  C.  B.  Brown.  The  author  gives  a  moderately  full  descrip- 
tion of  the  Illinois  of  the  close  of  the  18th  century.  Valuable  for  character- 
ization of  the  inhabitants. 

Washburne,  Elihu  Benjamin.  Sketch  of  Edward  Coles, 
second  Governor  of  Illinois,  and  of  the  slavery  Struggle  of  1823-4. 
Prepared  for  the  Chicago  Historical  Society.  Chicago:  Jansen, 
McClurg  6°  Co.,  1882.     253  pp. 

Indispensable  for  a  specialist  in  this  period  of  Illinois  history.  Well 
written.     Quotes  many  letters. 

Editor.  The  Edwards  Papers.  (  Volume  II  of  the  Chi- 
cago Historical  Society's  Collections.)  Chicago:  Fergus  Printing  Co., 
1884.      8+xxviii.  +  633  pp. 

Pages  86-90  give  Capt.  Thos.  E.  Craig's  official  report  to  Governor  Edwards 
of  the  attack  on  Peoria  in  1812.  The  volume  has  a  description  of  Peoria  in 
1827,  and  considerable  information  concerning  the  Indian  troubles  of  that  year. 

Welby,  Ad  lard,  Esq.  A  Visit  to  North  America  and  the 
English  Settlements  in  Illinois,  with  a  winter  Residence  at  Phila- 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  233 

ddphia;  solely  to  ascertain  the  actual  Prospects  of  the  emigrating 
Agriculturist,  Mechanic,  and  Commercial  Speculator.  London:  jf. 
Drury,  1821.     16 mo.     xii.  +  224  pp. 

Wheeling,  Va.  Report  of  a  Meeting  of  Workingmen  in  the  City 
of  Wheeling,  Virginia,  on  forming  a  Settlement  in  the  State  of 
Illinois.      1 2  pp. 

The  report  is  dated  Oct.  4,  1830.  Printed  without  place  and  publisher's 
name.  In  Library  of  Chicago  Historical  Society.  Rare.  It  set  forth  a 
scheme  for  purchasing  and  settling  a  county  in  Illinois. 

Williams,  Samuel.  Sketches  of  the  War,  between  the  United 
States  and  the  British  Isles:  intended  as  a  faithful  History  of  all 
the  material  Events  from  the  Time  of  the  Declaration  in  181 2  to 
and  including  the  Treaty  of  Peace  in  18 '15.  Rutland,  Ft.:  Fay  &* 
Davison,  181 5.     496  pp. 

Contains  Capt.  Heald's  official  account  of  the  massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn, 
August  15,  1812. 

Woods,  John.  Two  Years'  Residence  in  the  Settlement  on  the 
English  Prairie,  in  the  Illinois  Country,  U.  8.  With  an  Account  of 
its  animal  and  vegetable  Productions,  Agriculture,  &c.  &c.  A 
Description  of  the  principal  Towns,  Villages,  &c.  &C.  With  the 
Habits  and  Customs  of  the  Back-woodsmen.  London:  Longman 
&  others,  1822.     310  pp. 

Of  great  value.  Unusually  conservative  as  to  Illinois  advantages,  but 
apparently  truthful. 

Wright,  John  S.  Letters  from  the-  West;  or,  A  Caution  to 
Emigrants.     Salem,  N.  Y.:  Dodd  &=  Stevenson,  181 9.      72  pp. 

A  series  of  letters  from  one  who  traveled  through  the  West  in  1818-19. 
In  a  fair  manner  the  discouragements  which  emigrants  may  expect  to  meet  are 
portrayed.     In  Library  of  Chicago  Historical  Society. 


234  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

II. 

SECONDARY  WORKS. 

Abbott,  John  Stevens  Cabot.  History  of  Maine  from  the 
earliest  Discovery  of  the  Region  by  the  Northmen  until  the  present 
Time.     Boston:  B.  B.  Russell,  1875.      556  pp. 

Tells  of  the  "Ohio  fever,"  which  raged  about  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812, 
and  which  furnished  some  settlers  to  Illinois. 

Agnew,  Hon.  Daniel,  LL.  D.  History  of  the  Region  of  Penn- 
sylvania north  of  the  Ohio  and  west  of  the  Allegheny  River  .  .  . 
also,  an  Account  of  the  Division  of  the  Territory  for  public  Pur- 
poses, and  of  the  Lands,  Laws,  Titles,  Settlements,  Controversies,  and 
Litigation  within  this  Region.  Philadelphia:  Kay  &  Brother, 
1887.     4+246  pp. 

The  work  shows  the  price  at  which  Pennsylvania  public  lands  sold  at  the 
time  Illinois  was  being  settled. 

Allen,  J.  A.  American  Bisons,  living  and  extinct.  Cambridge, 
Mass.:  Welch,  Bigelow,  &=  Co.,  1876.    ix.4-246  pp.  and  12  plates. 

Carefully  done.  Tells  of  the  great  herds  of  buffalo  early  found  in  Illinois 
and  of  their  extermination  in  that  region. 

Allen,  William  Francis.  The  Place  of  the  North  -  West  in 
general  History.  Pages  92-1 1 1  of  the  author's  Essays  and  Mono- 
graphs. Boston:  Geo.  H  Ellis,  1890.  392  pp.  Found  also  in 
Papers  of  the  Am.  Hist.  Ass'n,  III.,  pp.  329-48. 

Good  for  a  view  of  our  subject  as  connected  with  larger  portions  of  the 
world's  history. 

Alton  city  Directory,  1858.  Alton,  Hi.:  McEvoy  &*  Bowron, 
1S58.      156  pp. 

A  short  historical  sketch  of  Alton  is  given.  Its  authority  is  on  a  par  with 
that  of  county  histories. 

Ajnerican  historical  Review.  New  York.  Vol.  IV.,  623-35. 
See  Boyd,  Carl  Evans,  below. 

Andreas,  A.  T.  History  of  Chicago  from  the  earliest  Period  to 
the  present  Time.  Chicago:  A.  T.  Andreas,  1884.  I.,  648;  II., 
780;  III.,  876  pp. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  235 

Only  pages  31-111  of  Volume  I.  concern  the  period  before  1830.  The  nar- 
rative is  written  with  considerable  care,  and  the  work  is  especially  rich  in 
copies  of  old  maps,  having  not  fewer  than  two  dozen  before  1830. 

Asbury,  Henry.  Reminiscences  of  Quincy,  Illinois,  cotitainitig 
historical  Events,  Anecdotes,  Matters  concerning  old  Settlers  and  old 
Times,  etc.      Quincy,  III.:  D.  Wilcox  &>  Sons,  1882.      224  pp. 

Tells  of  the  first  settlement  of  Adams  county,  under  the  congressional  act 
of  Jan.  13,  1825.  The  large  number  of  New  Englanders  is  suggestive  of  the 
increase  of  northern  over  southern  immigration. 

Atlantic  Monthly.  Boston  and  London.  Vol.  II.,  579-95. 
(May,  1 86 1.)     See  Clarke,  S.  C. 

Barber,  John  Warner,  and  Howe,  Henry.  All  the  Western 
States  and  Territories,  from  the  Alleghanics  to  the  Pacific,  and  from 
the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf.  Cincinnati:  Howe's  Subscription  Book 
Concern,  1867.      i6mo.      733  pp. 

Pages  195-250  are  on  Illinois.  Early  settlement,  Clark's  campaign,  and 
the  Chicago  Massacre  of  1812  are  described.  The  work  is  popular  in  charac- 
ter, yet  its  citation  of  sources  makes  it  of  some  value. 

Barry,  Hon.  P.  T.  The  first  Irish  in  Illinois.  Reminiscent  of 
Old  Kaskaskia  Days.  In  Trans,  of  the  III.  State  Hist.  Soc,  1902. 
Springfield,  III.:  Phillips  Bros.,  State  Printers,  1902.      pp.  63-70. 

Almost  exclusively  concerned  with  the  period  before  1830.  Tells  of  the 
work  of  Chevalier  Makarty,  George  Croghan,  John  Reynolds,  and  of  the  Irish 
soldiers  under  George  Rogers  Clark. 

Barstow,  George.  The  History  of  New  Hampshire,  from  its 
Discovery,  in  1614,  to  the  Passage  of  the  Toleration  Act  in  i8ig. 
2d  cd.  New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam  &*  Co.,  1853.  8vo.  iv.-f- 
456  pp. 

Gives  a  short  account  of  the  unusual  cold  of  1816-17,  which  affected 
western  immigration.  There  is  nothing  to  indicatejhat  the  second  edition  is 
not  an  exact  reprint  of  the  first.     Copyright,  1842. 

Beck,  Lewis  C.  A  Gazetteer  of  the  States  of  Illinois  and 
Missouri;  containing  a  general  View  of  each  State,  a  general  View 
of  their  Counties,  and  a  particular  Description  of  their  Towns, 
Villages,  Rivers,  &*c,  &C.  Albany  .-Charles  R.  and  George  Webster, 
1823.     352  pp. 


236  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Itr     ^ 

165  pages  are  devoted  to  Illinois.     Much  interesting  material  is  given,  but 

the  nature  of  the  publication  makes  caution  in  its  use  necessary. 

Beckley,  Hosea,  A.  M.  The  History  of  Vermont;  with 
Descriptions,  physical  and  topographical.  Brattleboro :  George  H. 
Salisbury,  1846.      i6mo.     396  pp. 

Describes  the  effects  of  the  unusual  cold  of  1S16-17,  which  greatly  affected 
western  emigration. 

Beckwith,  Hiram  Williams.     Historic  Notes  on  the  North- 

7vest,  gleaned  from   early  Authors,  old  Maps   and  Manuscripts, 

private  and  official  Correspondence,  and  other  authentic,  though,  for 

the  most  part,  out-of-the-way    Sources.     (In    Hist,    of   Vermilion 

County,  III.    Chicago:  H.  H.  Hill  6°  Co.,  1879.      11-304  pp). 

Deals  with  the  period  before  Illinois  became  a  state  (1S1S).  "The  author- 
ities consulted  show  a  large  range  of  acquaintance  with  the  very  best  sources 
of  information  extant"  —  Lyman  C.  Draper.     Strong  on  French  and  Indians. 

A  brief  History  of  Danville,  Illinois,  with  a  concise  State- 
ment of  its  mining,  manufacturing,  and  commercial  Advantages. 
Danville,  111.:  Danville  Printing  Co.,  1874.      1 1  pp.  (unnumbered). 

Slight,  but  tells  of  the  beginnings  of  the  city  in  the  third  decade  of  the  19th 
century. 

Beckwith,  Paul.  Creoles  of  St.  Louis.  St.  Louis:  Nixon- 
Jones  Printing  Co.,  1893.      169  pp. 

The  genealogy  of  the  five  branches  of  the  Chouteau  family  is  given.  As 
many  of  this  family  were  prominent  in  early  Illinois  the  work  is  of  some 
interest,  although  not  wholly  reliable. 

Beggs,  Rev.  Stephen  R.  Pages  from  the  early  History  of  the 
West  and  North -West :  embracing  Reminiscences  and  Lncidents  of 
Settlement  and  Growth,  and  Sketches  of  the  material  and  religious 
Progress  of  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Missouri, 
with  especial  Reference  to  the  History  of  Methodism.  Cincinnati: 
Methodist  Book  Concern,  1868.     325  pp. 

Good  upon  the  beginnings  of  northern  Illinois.  Tells  of  the  Chicago 
massacre  (181 2),  of  the  work  of  Rev.  Jesse  Walker,  and  of  early  pioneer  life. 
No  clerical  bias,  in  the  bad  sense. 

Bernheim,  G.  D.     History  of  the  German  Settlements  and  of 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  237 

the  Lutheran  Church  in  North  and  South  Carolina,  from  the  earliest 
Period  of  the  Colonization  of  the  Dutch,  German  and  Swiss  Settlers 
to  the  Close  of  the  first  Half  of  the  present  Century.  Philadelphia ; 
The  Lutheran  Book  Store,  1872.     ix.  +  557  PP- 

Pages  471-3  tell  of  the  North  Carolina  Synod  sending  a  missionary  to 
Illinois  in  1827. 

Birney,  William.  James  G.  Birney  and  his  Times.  The 
Genesis  of  the  Republican  Party  with  some  Account  of  abolition 
Movements  in  the  South  before  1828.  New  York:  D.  Applet  on  &» 
Co.,  1890.     241110.     X.+443  pp. 

Chapter  12  is  on  abolition  in  the  South  before  1828.  The  work  is  helpful 
in  learning  the  conditions  from  which  southern  emigrants  moved. 

Blanchard,  Rufus.  Discovery  and  Conquest  of  the  Northwest, 
with  the  History  of  Chicago.  Wheaton:  R.  Blanchard  6°  Co., 
1879.     Chicago:  Cushing,  1880.     768  pp.     8vo. 

A  well -written  and  valuable  book  for  discovery  and  conquest,  but  of  little 
value  for  a  study  of  mere  immigration  before  1831.  What  it  has  of  immigra- 
tion is  almost  exclusively  confined  to  immigration  to  the  region  of  the  present 
Chicago. 

History  of  Illinois,  to  accompany  a?i  historical  Map  of  the 

State.      Chicago:  National  School  Furnishing  Company,  1883.     128 

PP-. 

The  text  is  a  disconnected  symposium,  and  has  in  some  cases  been  super- 
seded by  later  research.  The  map  is  the  most  valuable  part  of  the  work. 
It  is  27^x42^  inches  in  size,  mounted  on  heavy  cloth,  and  shows,  with  dates, 
Indian  trails,  routes  of  exploring  and  military  expeditions,  early  stage  and 
mail  routes,  historic  sites,  dates  of  settlement  of  the  principal  towns. 

Bonham,  Jeriah.  Fifty  Years'  Recollections  with  Observations 
and  Reflections  on  historical  Events,  giving  Sketches  of  eminent  Citi- 
zens— their  Lives  and  public  Services.  Peoria:  J.  IV.  Franks  &* 
Sons,  1883.      536  pp. 

The  "fifty  years"  seem  to  have  begun  shortly  after  1830.  The  biographical 
sketches,  however,  give  several  facts  in  regard  to  the  origin  and  immigration 
of  such  early  leaders  as  Coles,  Edwards,  Reynolds,  Carlin,  and  others. 

Boyd,  Carl  Evans.  County  of  Illinois,  The.  Am.  Hist.  Rev., 
IV.,  623-35.     July,  1899. 


238  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

A  scholarly  history  of  Virginia's  ephemeral  County  of  Illinois,  although  in 
error  as  to  the  dates  of  its  beginning  and  ending,  respectively. 

Brackenridge,  Henry  Marie,  Esq.  History  of  the  late  War 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  Containing  a  minute 
Account  of  the  various  military  and  naval  Operations.  Baltimore: 
Cushing,  181 7.  4th  ed.  Baltimore:  Gushing  6°  Jeiuett,  18 18. 
xxiv.  +  348pp.    6th  ed.    Philadelphia:  James  Kay,  1839.    298  pp. 

Valuable.  Several  times  translated.  Impartial.  Gives  a  short  account  of 
the  massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn,  August  15,  1812. 

Brown,  Charles  R.  The  Old  Northwest  Territory:  its  Mis- 
sions, Forts,  and  trading  Posts.  Kalamazoo,  Mich.:  Brown,  Mooi-e 
&>  Quale,  1875.     32  PP- 

The  work  consists  of  an  historical  and  chronological  map  (14'^  x  15  inches), 
and  notes  upon  the  94  sites  located  upon  it.  Eleven  of  the  sites  are  in  Illi- 
nois.    Valuable  and  suggestive,  although  deficient  in  citation  of  authorities. 

Brown,  Henry.  The  History  of  Illinois  from  its  first  Discov- 
ery and  Settlement  to  the  present  Time.  New  York:  J.  Winchester, 
1844.     vi.4-492  pp. 

The  author  confesses  to  having  written  in  haste  and  to  having  borrowed 
stories  from  other  states  simply  to  amuse  his  readers.  Worthless  except  to 
furnish  a  few  topics  which  one  may  wish  to  verify.  Criticism :  Draper  MSS. , 
Z  No.  2. 

Brown,  Samuel  R.  The  Western  Gazetteer;  or,  Emigrant's 
Directory,  (i8ij)  containing  a  geographical  Description  of  the  western 
States  and  Territories,  viz.,  the  States  of  Ky.,  Ind.,  La.,  0.,  Tenn., 
and  Miss.,  and  the  Territories  of  III.,  Mo.,  Ala.,  Mich.,  and  N. 
Western,  with  an  Appendix  containing  Sketches  of  some  of  the 
western  Counties  of  N.  Y.,  Pa.  and  Va.;  a  description  of  the  Gt. 
Northern  Lakes;  Indian  Annuities,  and  Directions  to  Emigrants. 
Auburn,  N.  Y.:  H  C.  Southwick,  181 7.      360  pp. 

Pages  17-35  g've  an  inaccurate  description  of  Illinois'  population  and 
resources. 

Brown,  William  Hubbard.  An  historical  Sketch  of  t/ie  early 
Movement  in  Illinois  for  the  Legalization  of  Slavery,  read  at  the 
annual  Meeting  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  Dec.  3,   1S64. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  239 

Chicago:  Fergus  Printing  Co.,  1876.     31  pp.     Fergus  hist.  Series, 
No.  4.     8vo.     25  cents. 

Especially  valuable  for  the  great  struggle  over  slavery  in  Illinois  in  1822-24. 
First  printed  in  1865,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society. 

Buckley,  James  Monroe.  A  History  of  Methodists  in  the 
United  States.  (Volume  V.  of  American  Church  History.)  Nezo 
York:  The  Christian  Literature  Co.,  1896.     XIX.  +  714  pp. 

Tells  of  the  founding  of  Lebanon  Seminary,  later  McKendree  College,  at 
Lebanon,  111.,  in  1828. 

Chicago  City  Directory,  for  the  Year  1855-5S,  and  Northern 
Illinois  Gazetteer.  Chicago:  Robert  Fergus,  1855.  150  +  xxxii.  + 
208+128  pp. 

Of  slight  value  for  our  purpose,  although  the  historical  introductions  to  the 
directories  of  the  various  cities  and  towns  have  a  few  usable  statements. 

Chicago  daily  Democratic  Press.  Railroads,  History  and  Com- 
merce of  Chicago,  three  Articles.  2d  ed.  Chicago :  Democratic  Press 
yob  a /id  Book  Steam  Pritii,  1854.     80  pp. 

Of  considerable  interest,  although  many  statements  are  of  too  late  a  date 
to  be  used. 

Chicago  Magazine.      Chicago,  III. 

I.,  103-16  (1857),  gives  an  account  of  the  massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn, 
August  15,  1 8 12,  largely  taken  from  the  Kinzie  narrative. 

Chicago  Sunday  Tribune,  Nov.  28,  1897. 

New  light  thrown  on  Old  Fort  Dearborn.  An  account  of  the  finding  of 
important  records  in  the  archives  of  the  U.  S.  government.  The  archives 
contained  the  original  order  for  building  a  fort  where  Fort  Dearborn  later 
stood  (order  of  1803),  and  sketches  of  Fort  Dearborn  as  early  as  January, 
1808.     The  sketches  are  reproduced. 

Clarke,  S.  C.  Prairie  State,  The.  (Atlantic  Monthly,  VII., 
579-595,  May,  1861.) 

Well  written  and  treats  a  large  number  of  subjects. 

Copeland,  Louis  Albert,  B.  L.  The  Cornish  in  southwest 
Wisconsin.  Pages  301-334  of  Wis.  Hist.  Coll.,  XIV.  Madison, 
Wis.:  De/nocrat  Printing  Co.,  State  Printer,  1898. 


240  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

Gives  several  facts  concerning  the  early  history  of  the  Galena  region. 
Most  of  the  Cornish,  however,  came  after  1830. 

Dana,  E.  Geographical  Sketches  on  the  Western  Country: 
designed  for  Emigrants  and  Settlers;  being  the  Result  of  extensive 
Researches  and  Remarks.  To  which  is  added  a  Summary  of  all 
the  most  interesting  Matters  on  the  Subject,  including  a  particular 
Description  of  the  unsold  public  Lands,  .  .  .  also,  a  List  of 
the  principal  Roads.  Cincinnati:  Looker,  Reynolds  &  Co.,  18 19. 
312  pp. 

Pages  133-156  are  devoted  to  Illinois.  A  suggestion  of  the  fraudulent 
count  in  the  census  of  181 8  is  given. 

A  Description  of  the  bounty  Lands  in  the  State  of  Illinois; 

also,  the  principal  Roads  and  Routes,  by  Land  and  Water,  through 
the  Territory  of  the  United  States.      Cincinnati:  Looker,  Reynolds 

&•  Co.,  1819.        I21T10.        I08    pp. 

Gives  very  few  references  to  settlement  and  few  descriptions  of  historic 
sites. 

Davidson,  Alexander,  and  Stuve,  Bernard.  A  complete 
History  of  Illinois  from  1673  to  1873;  embracing  the  physical 
Features  of  the  Country;  its  early  Explorations,  aboriginal  Inhabit- 
ants; French  and  British  Occupation ;  Conquest  by  Virginia;  terri- 
torial Condition  and  the  subsequent  civil,  military  and  political 
Events  of  the  State.      Spring field,  III.:  III.  Journal  Co.,  1874. 

944  PP- 

Crude,  but  no  specialist  in  Illinois  history  should  be  without  it.  Not 
minute  in  treatment  of  immigration. 

Decatur,  Macon  County,  Illinois,  History  of.  Decatur,  III.: 
Compiled  and  published  by  Wiggins  &•    Co.,  Cleveland,  O.,  187 1. 

51  PP- 

A  symposium  without  historical  merit.  Almost  exclusively  of  a  later 
period  than  1830,  but  tells  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  county  in  1820. 

Drake,  Samuel  Adams.  The  Making  of  the  Ohio  Valley 
States,  1660-1837.  New  York:  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1894. 
16  mo.     269  pp. 

A  very  few  pages  are  devoted  to  Illinois,  and  naturally  the  larger  events 
alone  are  noted. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  241 

Drew,  Benjamin.  The  Refugee;  or,  The  Narratives  of  fugitive 
Slaves  in  Canada.  Related  by  themselves,  with  an  Accoitnt  of  the 
History  and  Condition  of  the  colored.  Population  of  Upper  Canada. 
Boston:  John  P.  Jewelt  &  Co.,  1856.      1  21110.      387  pp. 

A  few  of  the  refugees  whose  escapes  are  narrated  passed  through  Illinois 
on  the  Underground  Railroad. 

Eames,  Charles  M.  Historic  Morgan  and  Classic  Jackson- 
ville. Jacksonville,  III:  Daily  Journal  Steam  Job  Printing 
Office,  1885.     336  pp.     In  Library  of  Chicago  Historical  Society. 

Of  great  interest  because  of  its  details  concerning  early  methods  of  travel 
and  concerning  the  beginnings  in  Morgan  county.  Deals  with  pioneer  and 
slavery  history. 

Edwards,  Ninian  Wirt.  History  of  Illinois,  from  1778  to 
i8jj;  and  life  and  Times  of  Ninian  Edwards.  Springfield,  III. : 
III.  Slate  Journal  Co.,  1870.      5 ^g  — (—  iii.  pp. 

Written  by  the  son  of  Gov.  Ninian  Edwards.  Not  in  good  form,  but  has 
much  authentic  material. 

Family  Magazine;  or,  Monthly  Abstract  of  general  Knowledge. 
New  York,  Boston,  Cincinnati. 

Volumes  IV.  (1837)  and  V.  (1839)  have  short  articles  on  Illinois,  which  are 
too  light  to  be  taken  seriously. 

Farmer,  Silas.  The  History  of  Detroit  and  Michigan,  or  the 
Metropolis  illustrated.  A  chronological  Cyclopedia  of  the  Past  and 
Present,  including  a  full  Record  of  territorial  Days  in  Michigan 
and  the  Annals  of  Wayne  County.  Detroit:  Silas  Farmer  6°  Co., 
1884.     Revised  and  enlarged,  1890.      2  vols. 

Valuable  for  information  concerning  Clark,  Hamilton,  Vigo,  and  La  Balme. 

Flagler,  Major  D.  W.     A  History  of  the  Rock  Island  Arsenal 

from  its  establishment  in  1863  to  December,  1876;  and  of  the  Island 
of  Rock  Island,  the  Site  of  the  Arsenal,  from  1804  to  1863. 
Washington:  Government  Printing  Office,  1877.  483  pp.  13 
plates,  2  pictures. 

The  first  chapter  of  the  book  refers  to  the  first  white  settlement  in  the 
region  of  Rock  Island,  about  182S. 

Ford,   Gov.   Thomas.     A   History  of  Illinois,  from   its   Gom- 

19 


242  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

mencement  as  a  State  in  1818  to  1847.  Containing  a  full  Account 
of  the  Black  Hawk  War,  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Fall  of  Mormon- 
ism,  the  Alton  and  Lovejoy  Riots,  and  other  important  and  interesting 
Events.      Chicago:  S.  C.  Griggs  &>  Co.,  1S54.       447  pp. 

As  the  title  indicates,  the  book  is  chiefly  valuable  for  a  period  later  than 
1.830.  It  >s  also  largely  political.  The  first  one  hundred  and  ten  pages  will 
be  found  useful  and  deal  to  some  extent  with  the  social  life  when  the  state  was 
young.      Criticism:  Draper  MSS.,  Z  13. 

Gerhard,  Fred.  Illinois  as  it  is;  its  History,  Geography, 
Statistics,  Constitution,  Laws,  Go7>ernment,  Finances,  Climate,  Soil, 
Plants,  Animals,  State  of  Health,  Prairies,  Agriculture,  Cattle- 
breeding,  Orcharding,  Cultivation  of  the  Grape,  Timber -growing, 
Market  -prices,  Lauds  and  Land-prices  .  .  .  etc.  Philadel- 
phia :   Charles  Desilver,  1857 :.     451  pp. 

Pages  13-137  are  devoted  to  the  hi->toryi  of  Illnois.  The  author  is  con- 
spicuously accurate  and  treats  a  large  number  of  topics.  A  valuable  second- 
ary work. 

Glimpses  of  the  Monastery.  Scenes  from  the  History  of  the 
Ursulines  of  Quebec  during  two  hundred  Years,  i6jq-iSjq.  By 
a  Member  of  the  Community.  Second  edition,  completed  by  Remin- 
iscences of  the  last  fifty  Years,  i8jp-i88p.  Quebec:  L.  ff.  Domers 
6°  Frere,  1897.      ix.  +  418-I-  184  pp. 

Pages  84-93  °f  tne  first  pagination  give  a  suggestive  discussion  of  the 
capability  of  the  Indian  for  civilization. 

Green,  Thomas  Marshall.  Historic  Families  of  Kentucky. 
(First  Series.)     Cincinnati:  Robert  Clarke  &  Co.,  1889.      3°4  PP- 

Gives  a  few  facts  concerning  John  Todd  and  John  Todd  Stuart,  who  were 
active  in  Illinois.  The  latter  was  a  cousin  of  Mary  Todd  Lincoln  and  had 
much  early  influence  upon  Lincoln.  The  volume  deals  with  McDowells, 
Logans,  and  Aliens.     Well  written  and  valuable. 

Haight,  Walter  C,  B.  L.  The  Ordinance  of  i/8j.  (pp.  343- 
402  of  Pub.  of  the  Mich.  Pol.  Sci.  Ass,ni  II.),  1896,  1897. 

A  discussion  of  the  binding  effect  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  The  question 
has  a  close  connection  with  slavery  in  Illinois. 

Hall,  B.  F.      The  early  History  of  the  North  Western   States, 


Works  consulted.  243 

embracing  New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Iowa  and 
Wisconsin,  with  their  land  laws,  etc.,  and  an  Appendix  containing 
the  Constitutions  of  those  States.  Buffalo:  Geo.  H.  Derby  &>  Co., 
1849.      Duodecimo.      477  pp. 

Statements  made  in  this  book  must  be  carefully  verifie  1.  The  li.^e  of  con- 
flicting land  titles  is  fairly  well  treated. 

Harris,  N.  Dwight,  Ph.  D.      The  History  of  Negro  Servitude 
in  Illinois  and  of  the  slavery  Agitation  in  that  Stale  ijiy-  1S&4. 
Chicago:  A.  C.  McClurg  <S°  Co.,  1904.      276  pp. 
An  erudite  work,  compiled  from  many  sources  previously  unused. 

Hayes,  A.  A.,  Jr.  The  Metropolis  of  the  Prairies.  (Harper  s 
New  Monthly  Mag.,  LXL,  711-730,  Oct.  1880). 

A  readable  popular  article.     Chiefly  concerned  with  events  later  than  1S30. 

H eaton,  John  L.  The  Story  of  Vermont.  Boston:  D.  Lothrop 
Co.,  1889.     319  pp. 

Has  an  interesting  chapter  of  twenty  pages  on  The  Great  West.  More 
reliable  than  so  popular  a  book  usually  is. 

Henderson,  John  G.  Early  History  of  the  "Sangamon  Coun- 
try," being  Notes  on  the  first  Settlements  in  the  Territory  now  com- 
prised within  the  Limits  of  Morgan,  Scott  and  Cass  Counties. 
Davenport,  Iowa:  Day,  Egbert  6°  Fidlar,  1873.     33  PP- 

Of  great  interest  for  a  study  of  early  troubles  with  the  Indians.  Treats  of 
East  vs.  South  in  Illinois  and  of  Regulators.  Deals  almost  exclusively  with 
the  period  before  1 830.  Compiled  largely  from  interviews  with  old  settlers, 
hence  not  wholly  reliable. 

Hinsdale,  Burke  Aaron.  The  Old  Northwest  with  a  View 
of  the  thirteen  Colonies  as  constituted  by  the  royal  Charters.  New 
York:  Townsend MacCoun,  1888.  8vo.  440  pp.  2d  ed.,  rev. 
New  York:  Silver,  Burdett  d°  Co.,  1899.     $2-50. 

In  general  only  the  boldest  outlines  of  immigration  to  Illinois  are  sketched. 
The  slavery  struggle  in  Illinois  (1822-24)  is  treated  with  comparative  fullness. 
Criticism:  Boston  Herald,  fuly  2,  iSSS. 

Hoskins,  Nathan.  A  History  of  the  State  of  Vermont,  from 
its  Discovery  and  Settlement  to  the  Close  of  the  Year  1830.  Ver- 
gennes :  ff.  Shedd,  1831.      12 mo.      316  pp. 

Tells  of  the  unusually  cold  summer  of  1S16. 


244  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

Howe,  Henry.  Historical  Collections  of  the  great  West:  con- 
taining Narratives  of  the  most  important  and  interesting  Events  in 
western  History  —  remarkable  individual  Adventures — Sketches  of 
frontier  Life — Descriptions  of  natural  Curiosities :  to  which  is 
appended  historical  and  descriptive  Sketches  of  Oregon,  New  Mexico, 
Texas,  Minnesota,  Utah  and  California.  Cincinnati :  Henry  Howe, 
1853.     8vo.     440  pp. 

Compiled  from  a  large  number  of  sources,  largely  secondary. 

Hubbard,  George  D.  A  Case  of  geographic  Influence  upon 
human  Affairs.  Pages  145-157  of  Bulletiti  of  the  American 
Geographical  Society,  XXXVI.,  No.  3,  March,,  igoq.  Pub.  by  the 
Society,  New  York. 

A  scientific  discussion  of  the  effect  of  glaciation  upon  the  character  of  the 
people  of  different  portions  of  Illinois. 

Hulbert,  Archur  Butler.  Red-Men's  Roads.  The  Indian 
Thoroughfares  of  the  central  J  Vest.  Columbus,  Ohio:  Fred  ff. 
Hecr  &>  Co.,  1900.      37  pp. 

The  book  has  many  maps  and  is  a  help  toward  an  understanding  of  the 
ways  by  which  early  settlers  reached  Illinois. 

Hynes,  Rev.  Thomas  W.  History  of  a  Century.  An*  Address 
delivered  at  Greenville,  Bond  Co.,  III.,  on  July  4,  1876. 

A  newspaper  clipping,  bound,  without  the  name  of  the  paper  from  which  it 
was  taken,  in  Illinois  Local  History  Pamphlets,  V.,  in  Library  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin State  Historical  Society.  It  contains  a  valuable  historical  letter  from 
Mrs.  A!mira  Morse,  a  resident  as  early  as  1S20. 

Illinois.  Historical  Encyclopedia  of  Illinois.  Chicago  and  New 
York:  Munsell  Pub.  Co.,  1900.     608  pp. 

Edited  by  Newton  Eateman,  LL.  D.,  and  Paul  Selby,  A.  M.  Much  more 
reliable  than  many  books  of  the  same  literary  type. 

International  Monthly.  Burlington,  Vt.,  IV.,  794-820.  See 
Turner,  Frederick  Jackson. 

James,  Edmund  Janes,  and  Loveless,  Milo  J.  A  Bibli- 
ography of  Neivspapcrs  published  in  Illinois  prior  to  i860.  Spring- 
field, III.,  Phillips  Bros.,  State  Printers,  1899.      94  pp. 

A  very  valuable  work.     An  appendix  gives  a  list  of  the  Illinois  and  Mis- 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  245 

souri  papers  (1S0S-1S97)  in  the  St.  Louis  Mercantile  Library,  while  a  second 
appendix  enumerates  the  county  histories  of  Illinois  and  tells  where  they  may 
be  found. 

Johnson,  Eric  and  Peterson,  C.  F.  Svenskarne  i  Illinois. 
Chicago:  IV  Williamson,  1880.     471   pp. 

Chiefly  valuable  for  a  later  period.  The  salient  points  of  early  Illinois 
history  are  canvassed. 

Kingdom,  William,  Jr.  America  and  the  British  Colonies,  an 
abstract  of  all  the  most  useful  Information  relative  to  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  the  British  Colonics  of  Canada,  the  Cafe  of 
Good  Hope,  New  South  Wales,  and  Van  Diemen's  Island.  London: 
G.  and  W.  B.  Whittaker,  1820.      16 mo.      359  pp. 

Pages  61-73  describe  Illinois  and  give  some  judicious  advice  to  emigrants. 
Conservative,  but  not  cynical.  Entire  pages  are  repri  ted  from  other  authors, 
notably  Fearon,  without  the  use  of  quotation  marks. 

Kingston,  Hon.  John  T.  Early  Western  Days.  (In  Wis. 
Hist.  Coll.,  VII.,  297-344).     Madison,  Wis.:  E.  B.  Bo/ens,  1876. 

Gives  a  short  account  of  the  slavery  struggle  in  Illinois  in  1822-24. 

Slavery  in  Illinois.     Neccdah,  Wis.:  Necedah   Republican. 

6  pp.  Reprinted,  without  date,  in  pamphlet  form.  In  Library 
of  State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin. 

A  very  short  sketch  of  slavery  in  Illinois  from  its  introduction  in  1719-20. 

Kirkland,  Joseph.  The  Story  of  Chicago.  Chicago:  Dibble 
Pub.  Co.,  1892.     470  pp. 

The  book  makes  large  reference  to  authorities  and  is  in  consequence 
valuable  for  reference. 

Korner,  Gustav.  Das  deutsche  Element  in  den  Vereinigten 
Staaten  von  Nordamerika,  18 18-1848.  Cincinnati:  A.  E.  Wilde 
&"  Co.,  1880.      i6mo.     461  pp. 

The  12th  chapter  (pp.  244-81)  treats  of  German  settlement  in  Illinois. 
Tells  of  the  first  German  and  Swiss  settlements  in  the  state.  Naturally  this 
chapter  and  the  work  as  a  whole  is  largely  concerned  with  a  period  later  than 
1830. 

Law,  Judge  John.  Address  delivered  before  the  Vincennes  His- 
torical and  Antiquarian   Society,  February  22,  i8j<?.     Louisville, 


246  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

Ky.:  Prentice  &=  Weissinger,  1839.  48  pp.  Enlarged  and 
reprinted  as  The  colonial  History  of  Vincennes.  Vincennes:  Har- 
vey, Mason  &*  Co.,  1858.      156  pp. 

Of  great  value  on  account  of  its  description  of  Clark's  campaign,  and  its 
notes  on  Mermet,  Gibault,  Hamilton,  Tecumseh,  La  Balme,  and  on  the  public 
lands. 

Lawrence,  John.  The  History  of  the  Church  of  the  United 
Brethren  ill  Christ.  Dayton,  Ohio:  IV.  J.  Shney,  1868.  2  vols. 
I.,  vi.  +  4i6;  II.,  vii.  +  43i  pp. 

The  book  contains  many  facts  concerning  early  emigration  and  settlement. 
Its  bearing  on  early  Illinois  history  is,  however,  slight. 

Leaton,  Rev.  James.  History  of  Methodism  in  Illinois,  from 
J793  1°  J^32-      Cincinnati:  Walden  &>  Stowe,  1883.     410  pp. 

Very  interesting  notes  on  Peter  Cartvvright,  Jesse  Walker,  and  other 
pioneers. 

Lee,  Francis  Bagley.  New  Jersey  as  a  Colony  and  as  a 
State.  New  York:  The  Publishing  Soc.  of  New  Jersey,  1902.  4 
vols.      I.,  422;   II.,  456;  III.,  400;   IV.,  402  pp. 

The  work  is  superbly  printed  and  illustrated  and  contains  a  vast  amount  of 
information,  but  is  totally  lacking  in  bibliography  or  references,  except  a  few 
indications  in  the  index  to  the  illustrations. 

Loher,  Franz.  Gcschichte  und  Zustdnde  der  Deutschen  in 
Amerika.      Cincinnati:  Eggers  &>  Wulkop,  1847.      v-  +  544  PP- 

The  chapters  of  especial  interest  to  us  are  "Ausstromen  der  Yankees,"  pp. 
237-41;  "  Einwanderung  von  1815  bis  1830,"  pp.  253-58;  "  Die  Wohnsitze  " 
(Illinois  and  Missouri),  pp.  337-40.  The  author  cites  many  authorities,  and 
his  book  is  of  very  great  value  in  the  study  of  the  assimilation  of  an  expatriated 
people. 

Lothrop,  J.  S.  j.  S.  Lothrop's  Champaign  County  (III) 
Directory  for  1S70-1,  with  History  of  the  same,  and  of  each  Town- 
ship therein.      Chicago:  f.  S.  Lothrop,  187  1. 

Tells  a  great  many  things  —  several  of  which  are  false  —  concerning  the 
'  early  period  of  Illinois  history. 

Lusk,  D.  W.  Eighty  Years  of  Illinois  Politics  and  Politicians, 
Anecdotes  and  Incidents.  A  succinct  History  of  the  State,  180Q- 
iSSg.  jd  ed.  Revised  and  enlarged.  Springfield,  III:  H.  IV. 
Pole  her,  1S89.      609+109  pp. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  247 

,The  609  pages  are  political.  The  109  pages  have  a  great  interest,  dealing 
as  they  do  with  the  beginnings  of  Illinois.  Secondary  sources  are  largely 
quoted.      Not  exact  enough  for  critical  work,  yet  very  suggestive. 

M'Afee,  Robert  B.  History  of  the  late  War  in  the  Western 
Country,  comprising  a  full  Account  of  all  the  Transactions  in  that 
Quarter,  from  the  Commencement  of  Hostilities  at  Tippecanoe,  to  the 
Termination  of  the  Contest  at  New  Orleans  on  the  Return  of  Peace. 
Lexington,  Ky.:  Worsley  &>  Smith,  18 16.      Svo.      534  pp. 

Very  rare.  In  the  Chicago  Historical  Society  Library.  A  valuable  book. 
Describes  the  attack  on  Fort  Dearborn  in  1S12. 

Mackenzie,  E.  An  historical,  topographical,  and  descriptive 
View  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Canada  .  .  .  the  present  State  of  Mexico  and  South  America, 
and  also  of  the  native  Tribes  of  the  New  World.  Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne:  Mackenzie  6°  Dent,  1819.     viii.  +  432  pp. 

The  four  .pages  devoted  to  Illinois  are  interesting  and  fairly  reliable, 
though  scarcely  up  to  date.  The  author  mentions  eighteen  works  used  in 
compiling  his  book. 

McLaughlin,  Andrew  C.  Lewis  Cass.  Boston;  Houghton, 
Mifflin  6-  Co.,  1891.      363  pp.     $1.25. 

Describes  the  expedition  of  General  Cass  to  northern  Illinois  during  the 
Sauk  outbreak  of  1827.     Criticism:  Nation,  LIIL,  204. 

Marietta,  O.  Report  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  National  Cen- 
tennial Celebration  of  the  Early  Settlement  of  the  Territory  North 
West  of  the  Ohio  River,  .  .  .  held  at  Marietta,  O.,  fhuly 
15-19,  inclusive,  1 888.  Columbus,  0.:  The  Westbote  Company, 
State  Printers,  1889.      292  pp. 

Contains  many  speeches  of  varying  historical  accuracy  and  importance. 

Mason,  Edward  Gay.  Chapters  from  Lllinois  History.  Chi- 
cago: Herbert  S.  Stone,  1901.      322  pp. 

Scholarly  and  accurate,  and  rich  in  citation  of  sources.  Tells  of  Old  Fort 
Chartres,  John  Todd's  Record- Book,  the  march  of  the  Spaniards  across 
Illinois,  and  the  Chicago  massacre. 

A/arch  of  the  Spaniards  across  Lllinois.     (In  his  Chapters 

of  Lllinois.  History,    Chicago,  1901;  also    in    Mag.  of  Am.   Hist. 
N.  V.,  XV.,  457-469,  1SS6.) 


248  SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 

Refers  to  a  number  of  sources.  The  march  is  that  of  1781  against  St. 
Joseph. 

Mather,  Irwin  F.  The  Making  of  Illinois.  Chicago:  A. 
Flanagan,  1900.      292  pp. 

The  work  is  strong  in  the  number  of  subjects  which  it  treats.  The  Illinois 
of  our  period  is  well  covered.  The  bibliography  cites  many  valuable  sources, 
but  no  references  are  given  in  the  body  of  the  work.  The  date  of  the  found- 
ing of  the  village  of  Kaskaskia  is  given  as  1695 — a  confusion  of  the  mission 
on  the  Illinois  River  with  the  later  village  of  the  same  name. 

Mayo,  A.  D.  Western  Emigration  and  Western  Character. 
(Christian  Examiner,  N.  Y.,  LXXX-II.,  265-82,  1867.) 

The  subject  is  well  treated,  but  the  value  of  the  article  for  our  purpose  is 
not  so  great  as  it  would  have  been  if  confined  to  the  early  period. 

Meigs,  William  M.  The  Life  of  Thomas  Hart  Benton.  Phila- 
delphia and  London:    J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  1904.      535  pp. 

The  work  throws  much  light  upon  the  policy  of  the  United  States  in  regard 
to  the  sale  of  public  lands,  and  the  attitude  of  the  West  towards  that  policy. 

Melish,  John.  A  geographical  Description  of  the  United  States, 
with  the  contiguous  British  and  Spanish  Possessions.  Philadelphia  : 
John  Melish,  1816.      182  pp. 

A  trifle  over  one  page  is  devoted  to  Illinois.  Of  interest  only  as  showing 
what  was  presented  to  the  East  at  the  time  concerning  Illinois.  Melish  was 
a  professional  map  and  gazetteer  maker.  His  work  typifies  that  of  the 
geographers  of  the  time,  who  described  the  world  with  marvelous  audacity. 

A  geographical  Description  of  the  United  States,  with  the 

contiguous  Countries,  including  Mexico  and  the  West  Indies.  Phila- 
delphia: John  Melish,  1822.     V.  +  491  pp. 

Seven  pages  are  devoted  to  Illinois.  The  description  of  several  Illinois 
towns  is  useful.  This  was  a  second  and  much  improved  edition  of  the 
author's  similar  work  of  1816. 

Information  and  Advice  to  Emigrants  to  the  United  States: 

and  from  the  Eastern  to  the  Western  States :  illustrated  by  a  Map 
of  the  United  States  and  a  Chart  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Philadel- 
phia: John  Melish, -18 1 9.      12  mo.      v. +  144  pp. 

An  entire  chapter  of  twenty  six  pages  is  devoted  to  Birkbeck's  settlement 
in  Illinois.  The  map  shows  several  routes  in  Illinois,  but  it  must  hale  been 
old.     The  book  is  a  good  type  of  its  class. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  249 

Moore,  Charles.  The  .Nor t Incest  under  three  Flags,  i6jf- 
ijg6.     New  York:  Harper  6°  Bros.,  1900.     xxiii.4-402   pp. 

Many  facts  concerning  the  Illinois  of  the  period  are  given.  This  work  is 
of  considerable  historical  value.  References  to  sources,  although  not  abun- 
dant, are  helpful. 

Moses,  John.  Illinois,  historical  and  statistical.  Comprising 
the  essential  Facts  of  its  Planting  and  Growth  as  a  Province, 
County,  Territory,  and  State.  Derived  frotn  the  most  authentic 
Sources,  including  original  Documents  and  Papers.  Together  with 
carefully  prepared  statistical  Tables  .  .  .  Chicago :  Fergus 
Printing  Co.,  1S89-93.      2  vols.      1316  pp. 

The  author  was  secretary  and  librarian  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society. 
His  work  is  perhaps  the  best  that  has  appeared. 

Mowry,  William  Augustus.  The  territorial  Growth  of  the 
United  States.     New  York:  Silver,  Burdett  &  Co.,  igo2.      225  pp. 

The  chapter  on  the  Northwest  Territory  tells  of  various  cessions  of  land 
comprised  in  the  present  Illinois. 

Murat,  Achille.  America  and  the  Americans.  New  York: 
William  II.  Graham,  1849.     Duodecimo.     vii.  +  26o  pp. 

Too  late  in  date  to  be  of  much  service,  although  some  valuable  sugges- 
tions as  to  the  social  and  political  development  of  the  frontier  can  be  obtained. 
The  writer  was  an  acute  observer.  He  treats  politics,  slavery,  society, 
religion,  justice,  etc.  The  book  was  written  about  1S29.  Describes  customs 
and  extra  legal  proceedings  in  the  West. 

Nashville,  Tennessee,  History  of,  with  full  Outline  of  the  nat- 
ural Advantages.  .  .  .  Nashville,  Tenn.:  Pub.  House  of  the 
M.E.  Church,  South,  1890.      656  pp. 

Tells  of  passage  of  emigrants  from  North  Carolina  to  Illinois  in  1780,  of 
French  traders  from  Illinois  to  Tennessee  in  1779,  of  Tennesseeans  getting 
head  rights  from  George  Rogers  Clark. 

North  American  Review,  Boston. 

Volume  LI.,  92-140  (July,  1S40)  has  an  exhaustive  review  of  Peck's 
Gazetteer  of  Illinois.  The  review  is  probably  of  much  more  historical  interest 
than  the  Gazetteer. 

Palmer,  B.   M.     Slavery   in   Illinois.     (Dubuque  semi-weekly 
Telegraph,  Tues.,  Sept.  ip,  1899.) 
20 


250  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Gives  the  bill  of  sale,  taken  from  the  county  records  of  Jo  Daviess  County, 
111.,  and  executed  in  that  county  in  1830,  of  a  negro  mother  and  child. 

Patterson,  Robert  Wilson.  Early  Society  in  southern  Illi- 
nois. Chicago:  Fergus  Printing  Co.,  1879.  Pp.  103- 131  of 
Fergus  historical  Series  No.  14. 

A  characterization,  in  general  terms,  of  early  Illinois  society,  its  manners 
and  its  origin.  This  was  a  lecture  read  before  the  Chicago  Historical  Society, 
Oct.  19,  1SS0. 

Peck,  Rev.  John  Mason,  Editor.  "Father  Clark,'7  or  the 
pioneer  Preacher.  Sketches  and  Incidents  of  Rev.  John  Clark,  by 
An  Old  Pioneer.    New  York:  Sheldon,  lamport  c~  Blakeman,  1855. 

2S7  pp. 

Gives  considerable  religious  and  Indian  material  for  Illinois  history  from 
1790  to  1833,  but  chiefly  on  the  earlier  part  of  that  period. 

An  historical  Sketch  of  the  early  Atnerican  Settlements  in 

Illinois,  from  1780-  1S00.  Read  before  the  III.  State  Lyceum,  at 
its  anniversary,  Aug.  16,  1832.  (Western  monthly  Mag.,  I.,  73-83. 
Feb.  1833.) 

Popular,  but  of  some  value. 

Post,  Rev.  T.  M.  [Author  of  pp.  93-102.]  Contributions  to 
the  ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut ;  prepared  under  the  Direction 
of  the  General  Association,  to  commemorate  the  Completion  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  Years  since  its  first  annual  Assembly.  New 
Haven:  Wm.  L.  Kingsley,  1861.     xiv. +  562  pp. 

A  symposium.  The  article  by  Rev.  Mr.  Post  is  on  "The  Mission  of  Con- 
gregationalism at  the  West. "  It  is  suggestive  on  the  moral  effects  of  frontier 
life. 

Powell,  J.  W.,  Director.  Eighteenth  annual  Report  of  the 
Bureau  of  American  Ethnology  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  iSg6-gj.  Washington:  Government  Printing  Office, 
1899.  Part  2.  Indian  land  Cessions  in  the  United  States  compiled 
by  Charles  C.  Roycc,  with  an  Introduction  by  Cyrus  Thomas. 
521-997  pp.  and  67  plates. 

Valuable.  The  work  was  used  in  preparing  the  outline  maps  of  Indian 
cessions  contained  in  this  work. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  25  I 

Reid,  Harvey.  Biographical  Sketch  of  Enoch  Long,  an  Illinois 
Pioneer.  Chicago:  Fergus  Printing  Co.,  1884.  134  pp.  This  is 
Volume  II.  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society's  Collections. 

Mr.  Long  visited  St.  Louis  and  resided  at  Alton  and  Galena  before  1827. 
The  book  is  of  great  interest  on  account  of  its  notes  on  the  methods  of  travel 
and  the  extent  of  Illinois  settlements  at  that  date. 

Reynolds,  John.  Belleville  in  January,  1854.  A  12 -page 
pamphlet,  printed  without  place,  publisher,  or  date.  In  Library 
of  Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society. 

Tells  of  the  laying  out  of  the  city  in  the  cornfield  of  George  Blair,  in  1814. 

A  biographical  Sketch.     (  Western   Journal  and  Civilian, 

XV,  100-114). 

Gives  glimpses  of  early  travel  and  of  pioneer  life. 

The  pioneer  History  of  Illinois,  containing  the  Discovery,  in 

i6~j,  and  the  History  of  the  Country  to  the  Year  181 8.  Belleville, 
III.:  N.  A.  Randall,  1852.  2d  ed.,  with  portrait,  notes  and  index, 
Chicago:  Fergus  Printing  Co.,  1887.     459  pp. 

Contains  much  valuable  biographical  material,  and  describes  the  life  of  the 
early  settlers  in  a  clear  way.     Criticism:  Draper  MSS.,  Z  13,  14. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore.  The  Winning  'of  'the  West.  New 
York:  G.  W.  Putnam  s  Sons,  1889-96.  Vols.  I.- IV.  I.,  xiv.-f 
352;  II.,  427;  III.,  339;  IV.,  363  pp. 

Valuable,  although  bearing  marks  of  haste  in  preparation.  Criticism: 
Am.  Hist.  Rev.,  II.,  171. 

Sanborn,  Edwin  David.  History  of  New  Hampshire,  from 
its  Discovery  to  the  Year  18 jo.  Manchester,  N.  H:  John  B. 
Clarke,  1875.      422  pp. 

Describes  the  unusually  cold  summer  of  181 6  and  its  effect  upon  western 
migration.  The  book  is  written  in  an  extremely  disconnected  style,  and  is 
without  index,  references,  or  bibliography. 

Sergeant,  Thomas,  Esq.  View  of  the  land  lazes  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. With  Notices  of  its  early  History  and  Legislation.  Phila- 
delphia: James  Kay,  Jr.,  and  Brother.  Pittsburgh:  John  I 
Kay  &■•  Co.,  1838.     13  +  203  pp. 

Valuable  for  ascertaining  the  price  at  which  Pennsylvania  public  lands,  which 
competed  with  government  lands  in  the  West,  were  sold. 


252  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Shaler,  Nathaniel  Southgate.  Kentucky.  A  pioneer  Com- 
monwealth. Boston:  Houghton,  Mifflin  <Sn  Co.,  1885.  viii-  +  433 
pp. 

Useful  as  giving  an  insight  into  the  character  of  a  neighboring  state  from 
which  many  of  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois  came.  One  of  the  best  of  the 
American  Commonwealths  series. 

Shea,  John  Gilmary.  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the 
United  States,  1808- 1843.  New  York:  J0""  G-  Shea,  1890. 
vii.+73i  pp. 

References  to  Illinois  are  very  few,  but  are  important.  The  volume  is  the 
third  in  the  author's  four-volumed  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the 
United  States. 

Siebert,  Wilbur  Henry.  The  Underground  Rail  Road  from 
Slavery  to  Freedom;  with  an  Introduction  by  Albert  Bushnell  Hart. 
New  York:  The Macmillan  Co.,  1898.      xiii. + iii.  +  478  pp. 

Has  notes  of  great  interest  on  the  U.  G.  R.  R.  in  Illinois  before  183a. 
Criticism:  Am.  Hist.  Re~u.,  IV.,  557. 

Smith,  Theodore  Clarke.  The  Liberty  and  Free  Soil  Parties 
in  the  Northwest.  New  York:  Long/nans,  Green  cs-5  Co.,  1897. 
vii. +  351  pp.     (Harvard  Hist.  Studies,  VI.) 

A  well -written  book,  but  only  the  first  chapter  concerns  the  period  before 
1830.     This  chapter  is,  however,  well  worth  attention. 

Steinhard,  S.  Deutschland  und  sein  Volk.  Gotha :  Hugo 
Scheube,  1856-7.      2  vols.      L,  X.  +  658;   n.,  826  pp. 

Pages  28-46  of  volume  II.  are  on  the  Germans  in  the  United  States  and 
contain  a  few  important  facts,  including  statistics,  for  our  period.  The  Van- 
dalia  (111.)  settlement  of  1820  is  mentioned. 

Stevens,  Abel,  LL.  D.  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America.  New  York:  Phillips  6° 
Hunt,  1884.     4  vols.     I.,  423;  II.,  511;  III.,  510;  IV.,  522  pp. 

The  fourth  volume  of  this  history  has  interesting  notes  on  Benjamin  Young 
and  Jesse  Walker,  respectively.  These  men  came  to  Illinois  as  pioneer  min- 
isters; the  former  in  1S04,  the  latter  in  1S06. 

Strong,  Moses  M.,  A.  M.  History  of  the  Territory  of  Wis- 
consin, from  1836  to  1848.     Preceded  by  an  Account  of  some  Events 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  253 

during  the  Period  in  which  it  was  under  the  Dominion  of  Kings,  • 
States  or  other  Territories,  previous  to  the  Year  1836.     Madison, 
Wis.:  Democrat  Printing  Co.,  State  Printers,  1885.    i6mo.    637  pp. 

A  valuable  book.  Its  chief  interest  for  us  is  its  sketches  of  early  settle- 
ment in  the  Galena  lead  region. 

Sulte,  Benjamin.  Histoire  des  Can  adieus-  Franca  is,  1608- 
1880.  Montreal:  Wilson  &  Cie.,  1882-4.  8  vols.  8vo.  About 
160  pp.  per  vol.  Montreal:  Granger  Freres.  40  parts,  paper, 
$10  ;  4  vols,  cloth. 

Gives  only  slight  attention  to  the  French  of  Illinois.  A  popular  work, 
but  quite  useful  for  a  study  of  social  institutions. 

Summers,  Thomas  O.  Biographical  Sketches  vf  eminent  itin- 
erant Ministers  distinguished,  for  the  most  Part,  as  Pioneers  of 
Methodism  within  the  Bounds  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.     Nashville,   Tenn.:   Southern  Methodist  Publishing  House, 

iS59-      374  PP- 

Pages  4S-56  give  a  character  sketch  of  Jesse  Walker  and  an  idea  of  the 
character  of  the  men  to  whom  he  preached  in  Illinois  in  1S07. 

Swayne,  Wager.  The  Ordinance  of  1787  and  the  War  of 
1861.  An  Address  delivered  before  the  N.  Y.  Commandery  of  the 
Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion.  New  York:  C.  G.  Burgoyne, 
[c.  1893].     90  pp. 

Contains  interesting  notes  on  George  Rogers  Clark  and  on  slavery  in  Illinois. 

Thomson,  John  Lewis.  Historical  Sketches  of  the  late  War 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  Philadelphia :  Thos, 
Desilver,  1816.     359  pp.     jth  ed.,  1818. 

Contains  one  of  the  earliest  accounts  of  the  massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn, 
August  15,  1812.  The  account  is  short,  but  tolerably  correct.  The  work 
was  reprinted  in  1S87  [Philadelphia:  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.],  with  a  short 
account  of  the  war  with  Mexico  added.     656  pp. 

Thompson,  Zadock.  History  of  the  State  of  Vermont,  from  its 
earliest  Settlement  to  the  Close  of  the  Year  1832.  Burlington: 
Edivard  Smith,  1833.  i2mo.  252  pp.  Repriided  with  ?iatural 
Hist,  of  Ft.  and  Gazetteer  of  Vt.  Burlington:  Zadock  Thompson, 
1853.     8vo.     224+224+200  +  63  pp. 

Describes  the  cold  season  of  1S16-17. 


254  SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 

Thwaites,  Reuben  Gold.  Early  Lead -mining  in  Illinois  and 
Wisconsin.  Pages  1 91-196  of  Am.  Hist.  Ass'n  Rep't,  1893. 
Washington:  Government  Printing  Office,  1894. 

Contains  several  interesting  statements  concerning  the  early  history  of  the 
Galena  region. 

Tucker,  George.  Progress  of  the  United  States  in  Population 
and  Wealth  in  fifty  Years,  as  exhibited  by  the  decennial  Census. 
Boston:  Little  6°  Brown,  1843.      12 mo.    211  pp. 

The  fifty  years  were  1790 -1840.  Very  useful  for  material  concerning  the 
relative  growth  of  different  sections  of  the  country. 

Turner,  Frederick  Jackson.  Middle  West,  The.  Interna- 
tional Monthly,  IV.,  794-820  (1901). 

The  article  has  a  few  suggestions  that  are  of  value  for  our  period. 

The   Significance  of  the  Frontier   in    American   History. 

Pages  199-227  of  Reft  of Am.  Hist.  Ass'n,  1893. 

Contains  a  valuable  characterization  of  the  French  as  colonizers. 

Varney,  George  Jones.  A  brief  History  of  Maine.  Port- 
land, Me.:  McLellan,  Mosher  e°  Co.,  1888.     336  pp. 

Tells  of  the  intense  cold  of  1816-17  and  of  the  great  Western  exodus.  A 
"  Young  People's  History. "     Popular.     Without  references. 

Walker,  Edwin  Sawyer.  History  of  the  Springfield  (Illinois) 
Baptist  Association.    Springfield,  III.:  H.W.  Rokker,  1881.    140  pp. 

Tells  of  the  organization  of  the  United  Baptist  Church,  of  Springfield,  on 
July  17,  1830,  with  eight  members. 

Wallace,  Joseph.  The  History  of  Illinois  and  Louisiana 
under  the  French  Rule,  embracing  a  general  View  of  the  Frmch 
Dominion  in  North  America,  with  some  Account  of  the  English 
Occupation  of  Illinois.     Cincinnati:  Robert  Clarke  &>  Co.,  1893. 

vi-+433  PP- 

Contains  a  great  deal  of  material.      Usually,  though  not  always,  correct. 

Warden,  David  Baillie.  A  statistical,  political  and  historical 
Account  of  the  U.  S.  of  N.  A.;  from  the  period  of  their  first  Col- 
onization to  the  present  Day.  Edinburgh :  Archibald  Constable  &* 
Co.,  1819.     3  vols.     i6mo.     I.,  lxiw  +  552;  II.,  571;  III.,  588  pp. 


WORKS   CONSULTED.  255 

Pages  43-65  of  Volume  III.  deal  with  Illinois  exclusively.  At  the  close 
of  the  chapter  the  author  gives  a  bibliography  for  Illinois  —  five  titles  and  two 
maps.     A  useful  book. 

Wentworth,  Hon.  John.  Early  CJvcago.  Two  Lectures 
delivered  April  11,  1875,  and  May  7,  1876,  respectively.  48  and 
56  pp.  Nos.  8  and  7  of  Fergus  historical  Series.  Chicago:  Fergus 
Printing  Co.,  1876. 

The  critical  supplemental  notes  are  of  especial  interest. 

West,  Mary  Allen.  A  MS.  Letter  in  the  Illinois  State  His- 
torical Library. 

Tells  the  story  of  the  coming  of  James  Moore  and  his  party  from  Virginia 
in  1781. 

Western  monthly  Magazine.  Conducted  by  James  Hall,  Cincin- 
nati, I.,  73-83.     See  Peck,  Rev.  John  Mason. 

White,  Emma  Siggins.  Genealogy  of  the  Descendants  of  John 
Walker  of  Wigton,  Scotland,  with  Records  and  some  fragmentary 
Notes  pertaining  to  the  History  of  Virginia,  1600-  igo2.  Tier nan- 
Dart  Printing  Co.,  1902.     XXX.  +  722   pp. 

Valuable.  Has  original  letters  from  Western  emigrants.  Suggests  the 
great  influx  of  people  into  Illinois  in  the  third  decade  of  the  19th  century. 
Gives  a  good  idea  of  the  westward  drift  of  population  in  the  United  States. 

Whiton,  John  Milton.  Sketches  of  the  History  of  New- 
Hampshire,  from  its  Settlement  in  16 2 j  to  i8jj.  Concord:  Marsh, 
Capen  &*.Lyon,  1834.     222  pp. 

Describes  the  great  cold  of  1816  and  the  great  emigration  to  the  West. 
An  unimportant  work,  confessedly  popular,  and  without  references. 

Wilbur,  La  Fayette.  Early  History  of  Vermont.  Jericho, 
Vt.:  Roscoe  Printing  House,  1899-1903.  4  vols.  I.,  362;  II., 
419;  III.,  397;  IV.,  463  pp. 

Pages  162-3  of  Volume  III.  tell  of  the  unusual  cold  of  1816-17  and 
quote  Governor  Galusha's  reference  to  the  impending  famine.  No  references 
are  given. 

Williams,  George  Washington.  History  of  the  Negro  Race 
in  America  from  i6ig-i88o.  New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 
1882.  2  vols.  I.,  x.  +  48r;  II.,  611  pp.  The  two  volumes  are 
also  issued  as  one. 


256  SETTLEMENT    OF   ILLINOIS. 

Gives  some  statistics  concerning  slaves  in  Illinois  and  notes  on  Illinois 
slavery  legislation.     The  author  was  a  negro. 

Williamson,  William  Durkee.  The  History  of  the  State  of 
Maine;  from  its  first  Discovery,  A.  D.  1602,  to  the  Separation, 
A.D.  1820,  inclusive.     Hallowel! :   Glazier,  Masters  6°  Co.,  1832. 

2  vols.      I.,  IV.  +  696;  II.,  729  pp. 

Tells  of  the  unusual  cold  of  1S16-17  and  of  the  great  movement  toward 
the  West.  Strong  in  citation  of  authorities.  Much  above  the  average  of 
State  histories  of  its  time. 

Wilson,  Henry.  History  of  the  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  slave 
Power  in  America.     Boston:  James  R.  Osgood  &■=  Co.,  1872-7. 

3  vols.     I.,  viL  +  670;  II.,  720;  III.,  774  pp.     Houghton.     3  vols. 
Valuable  material  on  slavery  in  Illinois.     A  strong  work. 

Winsor,  Justin.  Ihc  westward  Movement:  the  Colonies  and 
the  Republic  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  i6yj-g8;  with  full  carto- 
graphical Illustrations  from  contemporary  Sources.  Boston:  Hough- 
ton, Mifflin  o>-  Co.,  1897.      595  pp. 

Criticism:  Am.  Hist.  Rev.,  III.,  556. 

Withers,  Alexander  Scott.  Chronicles  of  border  Warfare, 
or  A  History  of  the  Settlement  by  the  Whites,  of  North \- western 

Virginia :  and  of  the  Indian  Wars  and  Massacres,  in  that  Section 
of  the  State.  Clarksburg,  Va.:  Joseph  Israel,  1831.  31 9  +  1  v.  pp. 
Very  rare.     Same.     New  ed.,  edited  and  annotated  by  Reuben  Gold 

Thwaites.    Cincinnati:  Clarke,  1895. 

A  few  references  are  to  events  in  Illinois.  Criticism:  Am.  Hist.  Rev., 
I.,  170. 

Young,  William  T.  Life  and  public  Services  of  General  Lavis 
Cass.     2d  ed.     Detroit:  Markham  6°  Ehvood,  1852.     420  pp. 

Tells  of  Gen.  Cass'  expedition  to  Illinois  during  the  trouble  with  the  Sauk 
Indians  in  1827. 


The  Settlement  of  Illinois. 


index. 


Aboite  river,  35. 

Act  creating  Illinois  county,  9,  15. 

Act  enabling  Illinois  to  form  a  state 
government,  115- 

Agricultural  Society,  formed,  168. 

Agriculture,  130,  165.  See  also  Farm- 
ing, Fruits,  etc. 

Albemarle  county,  Va.,  153.  154. 

Alton,  founding  of,  196,  204;  land  dona- 
tions for  church  and  school,  142. 

Alvord,  Clarence  W.,  5. 

American  Bottom,  130,  134,  157;  map, 
in  pocket. 

American  Fur  Company,  157,  15S. 

American  House,  Springfield,  207. 

Anarchy  in  Illinois.  40  et  seq. :  ended,  69. 

•Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, 
founded,  194. 

Anderson,  Robert,  mention,  207. 

Antanya,  Michael,  67. 

Anti  slavery  agitation.  See  under  Sla- 
very. 

Anti  slavery  Society,  Morgan  Co.,  183. 

Arkansas  Post,  63. 

Arks,  125,  126;  price  of,  161.  See  also 
Flat-boats. 

Assenisipia,  mention,  46. 

Augusta  county,  Va.,  15. 

Austin,  Moses,  196. 


Bagargon,  Mr.,  elected  magistrate,  61. 

Baker,  David  J.,  145. 

Baltimore,  123,  160,  161. 

Bandits,  155. 

Bank  of  Cairo,  1 14. 

Bank  of  Edwards ville,  207. 

Bank  of  Mt.  Carmel,  199. 


Baptists,  organized,  172;  found  Shurt- 
leff  college,  174;  divided  on  slavery, 

175- 

Barbour,  Philip,  mention,  40. 

Barges,  94,  129,  160. 

Barter,  130.      See  also  raider  Money. 

Bates,  Edward,  204. 

Batteaux,  94. 

Baynton,  Wharton  and  Morgan,  trading 
firm,  10. 

Bears,  14,  173. 

Beauchamp,  William,  197,  19S. 

Beef,  cost  of,  164. 

Bellefontaine,  51. 

Bellevue,  Iowa,  terrorized  by  mob,  20S. 

Bentley,  Capt.,  26. 

Biddle,  Nicholas,  mention,  209. 

Biggs,  William,  leg.  coun.,  113. 

Birds,  14. 

Birkbeck,  Morris,  founds  English  set- 
tlement, 124;  method  of  fencing,  165. 

Birkbeck's  Settlement.  See  English 
Settlement,  The. 

Black  Hawk,  Si. 

Black   Hawk  War,  146;  mention,  207. 

"Black  Laws,"  176,  186. 

"Blue  Laws,"  of  Mt.  Carmel,  200. 

Blue  Point,  157. 

Bond,  Shadrach,  delegate  to  Congress, 
113;  governor  of  Illinois,  145,  208. 

Books,  132. 

Bosseron,  Maj.  F.,  18,  24. 

Bounty  lands.    See  Military  bounty  lands, 

Brady,  ,  38. 

Brandy,  price  of,  97. 

Brashears,  Capt.,  mention,  26. 

Brick  houses,  131. 

Bridges,  114. 

British  at  Michilimackinac  attempt  to 
divert  Indian  trade,  69;  expeditions 
against  Illinois  settlers,  31-39,  107. 


258 


SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 


British  Michilimackinac  Company,  49. 
Buffalo,  14. 
Building,  cost  of,  168. 
Burr,  Aaron,  mention,  203. 
Butter,  price  of,  164. 


Cahokia,  attacked  by  British  and  Indi- 
ans, 33;  bounty  lands,  57;  commons, 
72;  court,  17;  distress  at,  25;  popula- 
tion, 12. 

Cahokia  Indians,  53. 

Cairo,  Bank  of,  114;  dykes  at,  114. 

Calhoun,  original  name  of  Springfield, 
207. 

Calico,  price  of,  130. 

Calve, ,  trader,  33. 

Canadian  French  settlers,  19. 

Canal  route  ceded,  no. 

Carbonneaux,  Francis,  42  -46. 

Carlyle,  eastern  limit  of  frontier,  107; 
salt  discovered,  18,  23,  171. 

Carolinas,  The,  settlers  from,  91. 

Carondelet,  Baron  de,  orders  expulsion 
of  Americans  from  Ft.  Massac,  73. 

Cartwright,  Peter,  journey  to  Balti- 
more, 1816,-123;  personal  traits,  191, 
192;  purchases  land,  139;  reasons  for 
moving  to  Illinois,  166;  representa- 
tive from  Sangamon  Co.,  191. 

Cass,  Gov.  Lewis,  averts  Indian  war, 
135;  protects  Galena,  150. 

Catholicism,  slow  increase  of,  175. 

Cattle,  allowed  to  run  at  large,  20;  rais- 
ing of,  130.      See  also  Live-stock. 

Census  of  180 1,  88. 

Cessions  of  land,  by  Indians,  44,  79-81, 
maps,  72,  104,  136;  by  individuals, 
10,  24,  71,  196;  by  Virginia  to  United 
States,  45,  46;  congressional,  57,  70, 

72,  79- 
Charleston,    Va.,  emigration    from    to 

Illinois,  190. 
Chicago,  in  1830,  190;  massacre  at,  109; 

platted,   142;   post-office,  151;  route 

to,  152;  valuable  port,  1 16. 
Chicago  Historical  Society,  5,  n. 
Chicago  river,   Indians  cede  tract  six 

miles  square  at,  79. 
Chickasaws,  allies  of  Spain,  73. 
Chippewa  Indians,  134. 
Cincinnati,  trip  from  to  Illinois,  1823, 

154. 


Clark,  George  Rogers,  14,  40,  45  et 
seq.;  land  granted  to,  46;  seizes  Span- 
ish goods,  54. 

Clay,  Henry,  mention,  210. 

Clergy,  174,  175,  196, 

Climate,  95. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  mention,  203. 

Coal,  in  Illinois,  14,  131,  142,  165. 

Cobbett,  William,  160. 

Coffee,  price  of,  130. 

Coles,  Got'.  Edward,  character,  210; 
emancipates  slaves,  209;  governor, 
145,  208;  message  against  slavery, 
183;  special  envoy  to  Russia,  209; 
urges  law  to  prevent  kidnapping,  182. 

College  township,  reserved  by  Ordi- 
nance of  1787,  101,  102. 

Colleges,  McKendree,  174;  Shurtleff, 
174. 

Collot,  Gen.  [George  Henry]  Victor, 
"Journey  in  N.  A.,"  14,  etc.;  Map 
of  the  Country  of  the  Illinois,  in 
pocket. 

Commerce  in  territorial  period,  95,  96, 
129. 

Committee  of  Workingmen  of  Wheel- 
ing, Va.,  144. 

Commodities,  prices  of,  49,  59,  130, 164. 

Commons,  Cahokia,  72. 

Congress,  delegate  of  N.  W.  Territory 
in,  76,  77;  donates  land,  142;  early 
Illinoisians  in,  146;  memorialised:  — 
by  Galena,  150;  by  Illinois,  87,  100, 
101,  138;  petitioned,  53,  74,  75,  77; 
78,  81,  86,  88. 

Constitution  of  Illinois,  provisions  of, 
117. 

Constitutional  Convention,  1S24,  182, 
183;  votes  for  and  against,  chart  of, 
184. 

Cook,  Daniel  P.,  non-resident  propri- 
etor of  Springfield,  205;  representa- 
tive in  Congress,  145. 

Corn,  price  of,  96,  164. 

Cotton,  production  of,  in  United  States, 
122,  129;  raised  in  Illinois,  167,.  168. 

Counterfeiting,  penalty  for,  148. 

Counties  in  Illinois,  1824,  list  of,  183. 

Courts,  15,  17,  60,  62.  See  also  under 
Illinois,  Kaskaskia,  Vincennes. 

Cox,  Col.  Thomas,  joint  owner  of 
Springfield,  206-208. 

Crawford,  William  Henry,  Secretary  of 


INDEX. 


259 


War,  announces  land  policy,  109. 
Crockett,  David,  mention,  205. 
Croghan,  George,  description  of  Vin- 

cennes,  13. 
Cruzat,    Spanish    Commandant   at   St. 

Louis,  39. 
Cumberland  Presbyterians,  143. 

D 

T)a\ton,Ca/>t.,  34;  elected  magistrate,  61. 
Dartmouth  College,  mention,  206. 
Davis,  Jefferson,  mention,  207. 
Deane,  Silas,  mention,  34. 
Debtors,  imprisonment  of,  147. 
Deer,  14. 
Demoulin,  Dumoulin,  or  De  Moulin, 

John,  74. 
Demunbrunt,  Demunbrun,  or  De  Mun- 

brun,  Thimothe,  22,  41. 
Detroit,   land   office   at,   80;  mention, 

190;   threatened    by   de   la    Balme, 

35-  36. 
Dickinson  College,  mention,  210. 
Dixon's  ferry.     See  Ogee's  ferry. 
Dodge,  Capt.  John,  22-23,  26-27,67. 
Ducharme,  trader,  33. 

Ducoigne, ,  68. 

Duncan,  Joseph,  145. 

E 

Easton,  Joseph,  emigrant  from  Eng- 
land, 1633,  203. 

Easton,  Rufus,  founder  of  Alton,  203; 
political  career,  204. 

Edgar,  John,  career  of,  174,  193,  194; 
correspondence  concerning  anarchy 
in  Illinois,  67;  land  holdings  of,  10, 
101;  letter  to  St.  Clair,  85. 

Edwards,  Ninian,  appointed  governor 
of  Illinois  Territory,  in,  113,  145; 
in  War  of  1812,  107,  108;  message  of 
1828,  149;  on  prices  of  public  lands, 
138;  political  career  of,  210;  wages 
offered  by,  130. 

Edwards  county,  Birkbeck's  settlement 
in.     See  English  Settlement. 

Edwardsville,  Bank  of,  207;  public 
lands  at,  105,  137. 

Ellery,  Abm.  R. ,  mention,  203. 

Emancipation.      See  under  Slavery. 

Emigration  and  immigration,  127,  176 
et  seq.;  causes  of:  —  from  New  Eng- 
land, 120,  from  the  South,  121,  189; 


cost  of,  124;  food  supply  for  emi- 
grants, 119,  133;  increase,  189;  oppo- 
sition to  immigration,  91. 

English  Settlement,  The,  124,  157,  161, 
169;  cost  of  transportation  to,  160; 
ships  produce  to  New  Orleans,  154. 
See  also  Birkbeck,  Morris;  also  Flow- 
er, George. 

Enos,  Pascal  Paoli,  joint  proprietor  of 
Springfield,  205,  206. 

Enos,  Maj.-Gen.  Roger,  206. 

Ernst,  Ferdinand,  mention,  167. 

Extinguishment  of  Indian  land  titles, 
77>  79>  81,  109,  144,  146. 


Falls  ot  Ohio,  30,  64,  65,  160,  162. 
See  also  Ft.  Harmar;  also  Shipping- 
port. 

Farming  methods,  168. 

Federal  Government  owns  land,  158. 

Fencing,  165  n.,  169. 

Ferguson,  Thomas,  leg.  coun.,  13. 

Ferries,  83,  114,  152. 

Fever,  95.      See  also  under  Health. 

Fever  river,  134;  lead  mines  at,  150. 

Financial  panic,  1819,  188-189. 

Fisher,  Dr.  George,  rep.,  113. 

Fisher,  Myers,  mention,  195. 

Flat-boats,  94,  124,  125,  129,  154,  160. 
See  also  Arks. 

Flax,  129. 

Florida,  Province  of,  71. 

Flour,  price  of,  49,   50,  94,    163.    164. 

Flour-mills,  167;  built  by  John  Edgar, 

193- 

Flower,  George,  124.  See  also  English 
Settlement. 

Food,  scarcity,  21-23,  25,  28,  30;  sup- 
ply of,  133.  See  also  under  names 
of  food  products. 

Fort  Chartres,  cannon  from,  10S;  in- 
habitants, 12. 

Fort  Dearborn,  massacre  at,  109;  men- 
tion, 190. 

Fort  Edwards,  terminus  of  mail  route, 

151- 

Fort   Harmar,  64. 
Fort  Jefferson,  24,  25,  30. 
Fort  La  Motte,  mention,  107. 
Fort  Massac,  73,  79,  95,  107. 
Fort  Nelson,  mention,  32. 
Fort  Russell,  established,  108. 


260 


SETTLEMENT  OF   ILLINOIS. 


Fort  Stanwix,  mention,  56. 

Fort  Wayne,  Treaty  of,  79. 

Fox  Indians,  33,  81. 

Fox  river,  first  flour-mill  on,  167. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  mention,  34,  195. 

Fredonian,  mention,  197. 

Free  masons,  organized,  194. 

Freehold  qualifications,  77,  112,   1 13. 

Freeholders,  housekeepers  privileged 
as,  147. 

Freight  charges,  94,  124,  160  et  s&j. 

French,  Augustus  C. ,  145. 

French  settlers,  attitude  toward  Amer- 
icans, 47-49;  land  holdings,  13,  18, 
99;  misled  by  LaBalme,  34;  offered 
lree  land  by  Spanish,  55;  priests, 
emigrate  from  Illinois  CO.,  68; 
towns,  character  of,  II. 

French -Swiss  from  Lord  Selkirk's  col- 
ony reach  Galena,  172. 

Frontier,  The,  48,  91,  106,  147,  206; 
Carlyle  eastern  limit  of,  107. 

Frontiersman,  analysis  of  character  of, 
191,  201,  202. 

Fruit,  129,  133,  168. 

Fuel,  scarcity  of,  131. 

Fulton  county  separated  from  Madison, 
18S. 

Fur  trade,  96.  See  also  American  Fur 
Company. 

Furs,    130. 


Gage,  Gen.  Thomas,  10. 

Galena,  150-53;  lead-mining,   172. 

Gallatin  county,  saline,  170;  slaves  in, 
180. 

Game,  14,  51,  132. 

Gamelin,  Antoine,  clerk  of  District 
Court,  Post  Vincennes,  60. 

George,  Cap/.  Robert,  mention,  40. 

Germain,  Lord  George,  mention,  32. 

Gibault,  Father  Pierre,  mention, '68. 

Governor  and  judges,  58,  62. 

Grammar,  John,  rep.,   113. 

Grand  Ruisseau,  52. 

Granger,  Postmaster -Ge>ieral  Gideon, 
mention,  203. 

Gratiot    Charles,  39. 

Great  Britain,  Ring's  proclamation, 
1763,  10. 

Great  Western  Road,  157. 

Greene  county,  separated  from  Mad- 
ison, 188. 


Greenville,  Treaty  of,  79. 
H 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  138; mention,  91. 

Hamilton,  Gen.,  leads  British  against 
Vincennes,  15. 

Hampden  Sidney  College,  mention, 
209. 

Hamtramck,  Maj.  John  F.,  at  Raskas- 
kia,  53;  petitioned  for  troops,  65. 

Hancock,  John,  mention,  34. 

Harmar,  Gen.  Josiah,  50;  advice  to 
French,  52;  expedition  from  Vin- 
cennes to  Raskaskia,  51 ;  on  emigra- 
tion from  Illinois,  64;  refuses  request 
for  troops,  69. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  40;  receives  peti- 
tion for  General  Assembly,  85. 

Health,  27,  91,  95. 

Henry,  Mr.,  elected  magistrate,  61. 

Henry,  Patrick,  209;  instructions  con- 
cerning Illinois  County,  9. 

Hinde,  Thomas  S.,  career  in  Illinois, 
196,  197;  description  of  Peter  Cart- 
wright,  192. 

Hog  raising,  14,  20. 

Hogs,  144. 

Honey,  129,  130,  133. 

Hooker,  Rev,  Thomas,  founder  of  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  203. 

Horse  stealing,  65,  67,  69. 

Hubbard,  Adolphus  Frederick,  210. 

Hubbard,  Gurdon  Saltonstall,  agent 
American  Fur  Company,  157. 

Hubbard's  Trail,  extent  of,  157. 

Hunting,  as  occupation,  132. 

Huron  (Ouisconsin  or  Wisconsin)  Ter- 
ritory, claims  Galena,  150. 


lies,  Elijah,  career  of,  205,  206. 

lies,  Elizabeth  Crockett,  mention,  205. 

Illinois:  — 

Country,  British  in,  10  et  sea.;  cli- 
mate, 14,95;  Collot's  description  of, 
14;  map,  in  pocket;  conditions  in 
1787,  50,  51 ;  development,  97,  98; 
enters  second  grade  of  territorial 
government,  85,  86;  French  popula- 
tion, 10,  12,  13,  30;  French  settlers 
offered  free  land  by  Spanish,  55; 
game  in,  14,  51 ;  governor  and 
judges,  5S;  Indian  owners  of,  10  et 


INDEX. 


26l 


seq.;  inhabitants  of,  12,  13;  immigra- 
tion to,  91,  92;  labor  conditions  in, 
96,  97;  population  in  1767,  1772, 
1788,  70;  in  1790,  1800,  1810,  91, 
97;  racial  conflicts  in,  54,  55;  rivers 
of,  92,  94;  roads,  13,14,  93,  94,  131 ; 
separation  from  Indiana,  85  et  seq.; 
squatters  in,  71. 

County  (1778-1783),  Act  creating, 
9,  15;  Act  renewed,  25;  Act  dis- 
solved, 31 ;  anarchy,  40  et  seq.;  anom- 
alous position,  iS;  bankrupt,  40; 
civil  organization,  15;  condition  in 
1780,  25,  26;  courts,  15;  extent  of, 
9,  IO;  French  inhabitants  dissatis- 
fied, 30;  hardships  in  early  period, 
21,  22;  judges,  election  of,  17;  mili- 
tary and  civil  authorities  conflict,  25- 
27;  military  operations,  19,  22-24, 
32-39;  money  scarce,  21;  Spanish 
claims,  38. 

Territory,  books  in,  132;  bound- 
aries, 90;  cattle  raising,  130;  com- 
merce in,  96,  129;  delegates  in  Con- 
gress, 113;  election  of  officials,  112; 
enters  second  grade  of  territorial 
government,  112;  extent,  89;  formed, 
89-90;  governor  and  judges,  ill, 
113;  immigration  to,  120,  121,  124, 
126,  132;  Indian  troubles  in,  106  et 
seq.;  internal  improvements  pro- 
posed, 114;  internal  revenue,  1 8 14, 
128;  judges  for,  ill;  land  office 
authorized,  103;  land  policy,  ill; 
laws,  in,  112,  114;  legislature,  100, 
113;  legislature  southern  in  nativity, 
112    n. ,    113;    manufactures,     1 8 10, 

128,  129;  newpapers  in,  132;  peti- 
tions for  state  government,  115; 
physical  features,  86;  population, 
1 8 10,  91 ;  post -roads,  13 1;  produc- 
ductions,  129  et  seq.,  133;  qualifica- 
tions for  representative,  113;  slavery, 
see  general  alphabet;  suffrage  in, 
112;  taxes,  133;  transportation,   114, 

129,  130. 

State,  admission  proposed,  115, 
opposed,  118;  agriculture  in  1820, 
165;  "Black  Laws,"  176,  186;  boun- 
dary, eastern,  90,  northern,  115; 
cattle  raising,  130;  cessions  of  Indian 
lands,  134,  135;  coal  in,  14,  142, 
165;  constitution  completed,  117; 
cost  of  living  in,  130;  counties,  list 


of,  183;  debtors,  147;  election  in 
1822,  181;  election  laws,  1829,  14S; 
emigration,  see  General  alphabet; 
Enabling  Act  of  1818,  115;  food 
supplies,  133;  government  southern 
in  character,  145;  governors,  list 
of,  145;  House  of  Representatives, 
mention,  185;  in  Congress,  11S. 
146;  Indian  agents,  134;  Indian  land 
claims,  134,  135;  Indian  traders. 
134;  Indian  wars,  146,  207;  internal 
revenue,  12S;  judicial  circuit,  173; 
land,  see  general  alphabet ;  laws, 
southern  influence  on,  1S6;  man- 
ners and  customs,  128  et  seq.,  165; 
manufactures,  128;  money,  substi- 
tutes for,  130;  New  England ers  in, 
146;  newspapers,  132;  northern 
boundary  changed,  115;  population 
required  for  admission,  116,  117; 
postal  facilities  in,  151,  158,  159^ 
products  of,  129,  167  et  seq.;  public 
lands,  136;  salt  springs  legislation, 
101;  school  tax,  148;  senators  and 
representatives,  145;  settlement  typ- 
ical, 5;  slavery,  see  general  alphabet  1 
southern  influence  in,  1S3,  184,  186; 
taxation,  1S28,  compared  with  that 
of  Kentucky,  149,  150;  transporta- 
tion, cost  of,  150;  facilities,  124,  see 
also  general  alphabet;  treasury  re- 
ceipts 149;  squatter  population,  14S; 
voting  in  1829,  148. 

Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  estimated 
cost  of  transportation  by,  141 ;  route 
ceded,  no;  mention,  115. 

Illinois  Company,  holdings  of,  10,  44, 

Illinois  Herald,  132. 

Illinois  Intelligencer,  132,  140. 

Illinois  Land  Company,  10  et  seq. 

Illinois  river  settlements,  134. 

Illinois  Navigation  Company,  114,  115. 

Illiteracy  of  French  inhabitants,  13. 

Immigration.      See  with  Emigration. 

Indentured  servitude,  117,  i~6  et  seq. 

Indian  agents,  134. 

Indians,  n,  12;  employed  by  British, 
32;  land  cessions,  maps:  1795-1801, 
72;  1809-1S18,  104;  1818-1830,  136; 
reservations,  134,  135;  titles  to  land 
extinguished,  77,  79,  81,  109,  144, 
146;  traders,  134;  tribes:  Cahokias, 
52;  Chickasaws,  73;  Chippewas,  134; 
Foxes,     33,     81 ;     Kaskaskias.     12; 


162 


SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 


Kickapoos,  no;  Menominees,  134; 
Mitchas,  52;  Mitchigamias,  12;  Ot- 
tawas,  135;  Ouias,  29;  Peorias,  12, 
52;  Piankashaws,  81 ;  Potawatomies, 
134;  Sauks,  33,  81;  Sioux,  31;  Tam- 
arois,  no;  Winnebagoes,  135. 

Indiana,  population,  91,,  181;  route  to, 
from  North  Carolina,  156;  slavery, 
185. 

Indiana  Territory,  divided,  Si,  88,  89; 
formed,  84. 


Jacksonville,    156;    English   emigrants 

at,  189. 
Jarrott's  mill,  167. 

[efferson,  Thomas,   mention,  203,  204. 
fohnson,  Capt.  elected  magistrate,  61. 
Johnson,  Col.  R.  M.,  163. 
Jones,  John  Rice,  career  of,  195,  196; 

death,  196;  mention,  6S;  with  Clark, 

54- 
Jones,  Rev.  'William,  rep.,  113. 
Judges,  election  of,  17,  58,  III. 
Judy,  Samuel,  leg.  coun.,  113. 
Jurors  paid,  58. 
Jury,  trial  by,  60. 
Justices  of  the  peace,  not  paid,  23. 

K 

Kane,  Elias  K.,  145. 

Kaskaskia,  bounty  lands,  57;  court, 
17,  19;  judicial  district  of,  44;  land- 
office  at,  103,  136,  137,  13S,  143. 

Kaskaskia  Indians,  12. 

Keel-boats,  125,  129;  rates,  161. 

Kenton,  Simon,  179. 

Kentucky,  emigration  to  Illinois,-  189; 
journey  from,  to  Illinois,  1819,  155; 
mention,  21,  24,  32,  33,  1S9;  popu- 
lation, 1790,  1800,  1 8 10,  91,  93; 
1820,  1  Si. 

Kentucky  boats,  93,  94. 

Kentucky  Gazette,  189/ 

Kickapoo  Indians,  no. 

Kidnapping  of  negroes,  186. 

King's  proclamation,  1763,  10. 

Knox  county,  75  n.,  86. 

Kohos  (Cahokia),  mention,  27. 


La  Balme,    Col.    Augustin   Mottin  de, 
career  of,  33  et  seq. 


Labor  questions,  96,  97,  99,  130,  169. 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  entertained  by 
John  Edgar,  193;  mention,  209. 

Lake  Michigan,  advantages  to  Illinois 
of  port  on,  115,  116. 

Land,  Act'of  1791,  72;  canal,  141,  142; 
cessions  by  Indian  tribes,  72, 104, 1 10, 
136;  cession  by  Virginia  to  U.  S.. 
45,  46;  church  and  school,  141,  142; 
classified  for  taxation,  S4;  cultivation 
of,  166;  fertility  of,  14,  165;  form  of 
holdings,  13,  3S;  French  deeds  to, 
13;  government  entry  of,  130;  Kick- 
apoo cession  of,  1819,  134;  military, 
100;  owned  by  Federal  Government, 
1 58;  prices,  57,  80,  88,  92,  103-5, 
136-8,  143;  rental  of,  166;  Spanish 
donate  to  French,  55;  tavern  sites, 
75;  taxes  on,  130;  unoccupied  in 
Kentucky,  Ohio  and  Indiana,  98. 
See  also  Public  lands. 

Land-claims,  10;  in  Illinois,  140. 

Land-companies,   10,   11. 

Land-frauds,  referred  to  Congress,  99, 
100. 

Land-grants,  investigated,  5 7. 1 

Land-holders,  non-resident,  mention, 
140,  145. 

Land-offices,  80;  in  Illinois,  44  ctf  seq., 
103. 

Land-titles,  insecure,  51,  71;  King's 
proclamation,  1763,  10. 

Laws:  "Black  Laws,"  176,  186;  "Blue 
Laws,"  200;  territorial,  III-14. 

La  Valiniere,  Pierre  Huet  de,  mention, 
68. 

Lead,  output  of,  1S23  -1827,  151. 

Lead  region,  rush  to,  1826,  172. 

Le  Dru,  removes  to  St.  Louis,  68;  signs 
petition,  66. 

Le  Grand,  signature  on  land  grant,  45. 

Legras,  Col.  P.,  at  Yincennes,  18. 

Limestone  beds  at  Alton,  204. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  in  Black  Hawk 
War,  207. 

Linctot,  38  n.,  39  n. 

Live-stock,  27,  S3, 169.    See  also  Cattle. 

Log  canoes,  93. 

Log  houses,  cost  of,  16S. 

Long  Prairie,  74. 

Louis  XVIII.  of  France,  mention,  209. 

Louisiana,  emigration  to,  86;  province 
of,  91. 

Louisiana  Gazette,  report  of  steamboat 
speed,  162. 


INDEX. 


263 


Luzerne,  Chevalier,  30,  36. 

Lyon,  Matthew,  on  price  of  lands,  88. 

M 

McCarty,  Richard,  19,  20,  26,  27; 
killed,  29. 

McDowell,  William,  196. 

Mcllvaine,  Miss  Caroline  M.,  5. 

McKendree  College,  opened  by  Meth- 
odists in  1828,  174. 

McLean,  John,  145. 

McMaster,  John  Bach,  5. 

Madison,  Governor  of 'Kentucky,  197. 

Madison,  James,  mention,  209. 

Madison,  John,   196. 

Madison  county,  population  1S20,  1S24, 
1825,  132,  188. 

Magistrates,  59  et  seq.,  67. 

Mail  routes,  1825-1830,  158,  159. 

Malaria,  91,  95. 

Manufactures,  12S,  129. 

Maple  sugar,  129. 

Marietta,   0.,  71. 

Marriage,  mixed,  51 ;  without  priest,  12. 

Mary  of  the  Incarnation,  Mother,  II, 

Maryland,  settlers  from,  91. 

Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  179. 

Massachusetts,  emigration  to  Illinois, 
189. 

Mechanics'  lien,  149. 

Menard,  Pierre,  leg.  coun.,  113,  208; 
Lt.-Gov. ,  145. 

Menominee  Indians,  134. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  174;  men- 
tion, 191. 

Meurin,  Father,  mention,  12. 

Michigan,  legislature  meets  in  summer, 

.J52-. 
Michilimackinac,  British  at,  32,  39,  46, 

47.  69- 
Miliet,  Mr.,  elected  magistrate,  61. 
Military  bounty  lands,  57. 
Military  organization,  etc.      See  under 

Illinois. 
Military  Tract,  land  in,  sold  for  taxes, 

140. 
Mills,  S3,  167. 
Miro,  Estevan,   Governor  of  Louisiana 

and  Florida,  proclamation  of,  63,  71. 
Mississippi    river,    navigation    of,    21 ; 

settlement  on  hindered,  88. 
Missouri,  population,  82,  181 ;  slavery 

in,  179,  180. 
Missouri  Compromise,  17S. 


Mitchigamia  Indians,  12,  52. 

Money,  scarcity,  21,  22. 

Monroe,  President  James,  letter  to  Jef- 
ferson, 97;  mention,  209. 

Montgomery,  Lieut. -Col.  John,  l$etscq. 

Morals.      See  Public  morals. 

Morgan,  — ,  member  of  trading  com- 
pany,  10. 

Morgan,  George,  agent  of  Indiana 
Company,  56;  land  frauds,  56,  57. 

Morgan  county,  anti- slavery  society, 
183;  freehold  rights  to  housekeepers, 
147;  separated  from  Madison,   188. 

Morrison,  William,  landholdings  of,  74, 
100,   101. 

Mount  Carmel,  Bank  of,  199;  donation 
of  land  for  church  and  schools,  142; 
founding  of,  196,  19S;  incorporation, 
200. 

Murray,  Edward,  23. 

Murray,  William,  mention,  10. 

N 

Negroes,  12,  64;  punishment  of,  179. 
See  also  Slavery. 

New  Design,  founded.  91,  92,  95; 
mention,  83. 

New  England,  immigrants  from,  146. 

New  Jersey  Land  Company,  11. 

New  Madrid  (L'Anse  a  la  Graisse),  63 
et  set/. 

New  Orleans,  flour  market,  193;  men- 
tion, 26. 

New  Orleans  boats,  93,  94. 

Newspapers: — Lllinois  Herald,  132;  LI- 
lino  is  Intelligencer,  132, 140;  Kentucky 
Gazette,  189;  Louisiana  Gazette,  162; 
Shawnee  Chief,  132;  Western  Lntelh- 
geucer,  132. 

Non-resident  landholders,  140,  145. 

North  Carolina,  route  from,  to  Indiana, 
156. 

Northwest  I  erritory,  bounties  in,  S4; 
congressional  delegate  seated,  76; 
divided,  76,  84,  85;  enters  second 
degree,  75;  first  sale  of  public  land 
in,  75  ;  judges,  62;  laws,  83,  84;  mag- 
istrates, 61;  mention,  58;  taxation, 
S3- 


Ogee's  (Dixon's)  ferry,  152. 
Oglesby,  Rez<.  Joshua,  rep., 


264 


SETTLEMENT   OF   ILLINOIS. 


Ohio,  emigration  to,  76,  190;  popula- 
tion, 91,  181 ;  public  land  sale,   144. 

Ohio  Company,  71. 

Ohio  river,  boundary  of  Illinois,  10; 
settlers,  88;  settlers  northwest  of,  18, 
19. 

Ordinance  of  1784,  46. 

Ordinance  of  1787,  40;  amendments  to, 
115,  116;  anti- slavery  article,  176  et 
set/.;  college  township  reserved  by, 
101 ;  effect  on  Illinois  country,  54,  55 ; 
violation  of,  87. 

Ottawa  Indians,  135. 

Ouia,  town,  30. 

Ouia  (Wea)  Indians,  29. 

Ouisconsin  (Wisconsin)  Territory,  Ga- 
lena claimed  by,  150. 


Paget,  M.,  mill  built  by,  193. 
Palestine,  sale  of  public  lands  at,  137. 
Parker,  Joseph,  of  Kaskaskia,  53,  54. 
Peck,  Rez<.  John  M.,  Baptist  minister, 

124,  125,  192. 
Peltry,  debts  paid  in,  21,  43,  60. 
Peoria,  Indian  agent  at,  134;  mention, 

79- 
Peoria  Indians,  12. 
Philips,    Joseph,    territorial    secretary, 

"3- 

Piankashaw  Indians,  81. 

Pierre,  Eugenio,  38. 

Pike  county,  separated  from  Madison, 
188. 

Pioneer  clergy,  191  et  seq. 

Pirogues,  93,  94,  160. 

Plums,  at  Smith's  Prairie,  129. 

Pollock,  Oliver,   40. 

Polypotamia,  mention,  46. 

Pope,  Nathaniel,  and  the  northern 
boundary,  115,  116;  delegate  in  Con- 
gress, 113. 

Population,  1788,  70;  1785  -1799,  82 
1801,  88;  1790-1810,  91;  1S1S,  116 
1812,  113;  1820-1840,  187,  188 
French,  1766-1777,  12. 

Post  routes.     See  Mail  routes. 

Post  Vincennes,  court  regulations  for, 
59,  135.     See  also  Vincennes. 

Potatoes,  price,  97,  164. 

Potawatomie  Indians,  134. 

Prairie  du  Chien,  inhabitants,  1S01,  88. 

Prairie  du  Rocher,  bounty  lands,  57; 
inhabitants,  1766-1777,  12;  1801,88. 


Prairies,  S3.  86,  97,  109,  131,  156;  fer- 
tility of,  1 65  et  seq. ;  settlement,  130, 

I3i- 

Preemption  rights,  72,  75,  77,  78,  100, 
102,  in,  113,  139,  144,  152;  in 
various  states,  102  et  seq. 

Presbyterians,  at  Galena,  175;  Cum- 
berland Presbyterians,  143. 

Prices  of  commodities,  49,  59,  97,  130, 
131,  164;  of  land,  see  under  Land. 

Priests,  French,  emigrate  from  Illi- 
nois,  68. 

Pro -slavery  agitation.  See  under  Sla- 
very. 

Provisions,  scarcity  of,  21-23,  25>   2§- 

Public  lands,  donated  for  schools  and 
internal  improvements,  142;  price  of 
in  various  states,  103,  104,  105;  pro- 
ceeds of  sales  applied  to  roads  and 
schools,  116;  receipts  from  sale  of, 
143;  sales  in  Illinois,  77,  81,  105,  106, 
137,  143;  sales  in  other  states,  103, 
104,  144;  tax  regulations  of,  up  to 
1S1S,   130. 

Public  morals,  2S,  29. 

Publications.     See  Books,  Newspapers. 


Quebec,  Bishop  of,  pastoral  letter, 
1767,  12. 

R 

Randolphs,  The,  mention,  209. 

Randolph  county,  formed,  75  n.,  83; 
slaves  in,  180. 

Rangers,  volunteer  for  guard  service, 
108,  109. 

Regulators  of  the  Valley,  147. 

Religious  denominations,   1 72  et  seq. 

Reynolds,  Gov.  John,  145,  196. 

Richland  Creek,  settlement,  78.     • 

River  craft,  93,  94,  126,  129. 

Riviere  du  Chemin,  fight  at,  37. 

Roads,  86,  116,  153  et  seq.;  Illinois 
settlements  to  Galena,  151;  repairs, 
15S;  Shawneetown  to  Birkbeck's  set- 
tlement, 157;  to  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia 
and  St.  Louis,  101,  102,  157;  Vanda- 
lia  to  Springfield,  157.  See  also  under 
Illinois;  also  Toll  roads. 

Rock  river,  152, 

Rock  Spring  Seminary  (Shurtleff  Col- 
lege) founded  by  Baptists  in  1827, 
174. 


INDEX. 


26; 


Rogers,  Capt.  ,  defense  of,  28,  29. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  "Winning  of  the 

West, "  9. 
Rush,  Benjamin,  mention,  195. 


St.  Clair,  Gov.  Arthur,  10,  64;  at  Kas- 
kaskia,  69;  establishes  counties,  83; 
president  of  Congress,  54. 

.St.  Clair,  James,  74. 

St.  Clair,  John  Murray,  10,  193. 

St.  Clair,  William,  74. 

St.  Clair  county,  divided,  83;  formed, 
75  n.,  82, 

St.  Josephs,  expedition  against,  37,  38. 

St.  Louis,  attacked  by  British,  33;  pop- 
ulation of,  1 81 7,  132;  Treaty  of, 
1804,  81. 

St.  Marie,  Joseph,  goods  confiscated  by 
Spanish,  63. 

St.  Philips,  inhabitants  of,   12. 

St.  Pierre,  Father,  leaves  Cahokia,  68. 

Ste.  Genevieve,  garrisoned  by  Spanish, 

74- 

Saline  creek  salt  works,  slave  labor  at, 
117. 

Saline  river  reservation,  sale  of,  142. 

Saline  spring  in  Gallatin  county,.  170, 
171. 

Salt,  discovered  at  Carlyle,  1823,  171 ; 
legislation  concerning,  101 ;  prices  of, 
170  et  seq.j  works,  New  York,  153. 

Sangamon  county,  emigration  to,  1810- 
1825,  188;  housekeepers  as  free- 
holder's, 147;  separated  from  Mad- 
ison, 188. 

Sauk  Indians,  33,  81. 

Schools,  academic,  funds  given  for, 
199;  common,  established,  173;  early, 
173;  land  granted  for,  116,  141,  142; 
teachers,  173,  174. 

Scotch -Irish  opposed  to  slavery,  92. 

Selkirk,  Lord,  colony,  172. 

Seminaries,  location  of,   174. 

Servitude,  indentured,  117,  176,  177, 
179. 

■Shawnee  Chief,  132. 

Shawneetown,  description,  1S17, 125-7; 
land -office  at,  103;  road  to  Kaskas- 
kia,  101,  102,  157;  sale  of  public 
lands,  105,  137. 

Shipping,  93,  94,  125,  129. 

Shippingport,  Falls  of  Ohio,  mention, 
•62. 


Short,  Jacob,  rep.,  113. 

Shurtleff  College  (Rock  Springs  Sem- 
inary) founded  by  Baptists  in  1827, 
174. 

Sickness.      See  under  Health. 

Sioux  Indians,  31,  32. 

Skiffs,  93,  94. 

Slave  code,  enacted  in  1819,   179. 

Slavery,  64,  65,  176  et  set/.;  abolition 
recommended  by  Coles,  185;  anti- 
slavery  article  of  Ordinance  of  1787, 
55,  177,  180;  "Black  Laws"  of  Illi- 
nois, 176,  186;  children  of  slaves, 
177;  constitutional  provisions,  17S; 
decrease  of,  1S7;  effect  on  settlement. 
177;  freeing  of  slaves,  64,  65,  177, 
179;  French  slaveholders,  55.  176, 
177;  importation  of  slaves  author- 
ized, 87;  increase,  1S0,  1S1;  inden- 
tured servitude,  117,  1 76  et  seq. :  legal- 
ization, 176;  number  of  slaves,  1S20, 
1840,  1S7;  Ordinance  of  1787,  55, 
176,  177,  1  So;  whipping  of  slaves. 
179. 

Slave-trade,  abolition  of,  17S. 

Smith's  Prairie,  fruit  at,  129. 

Soulard,  Mr.,  152. 

Southern  influence  in  Illinois,  145,  186. 

Spain  claims  the  Illinois  country,  38: 
offers  free  land  to  Illinois  settlers, 
55,  71;  refuses  to  allow  navigation  of 
Mississippi,   21. 

Spanish,  aggression  upon  United  States, 
73;  trouble  Illinois  settlers,  21,  24. 

Sprigg,  Judge  William,  in. 

Springfield,  called  Calhoun  when  found- 
ed, 196;  first  store,  206;  land-office 
at,  144;  sales  of  public  land,  137, 
143;  terminus  of  mail  route,  15S. 

Squatters  in  Illinois,  50,  58,  72,  99, 
148. 

State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin. 
See  under  Wisconsin. 

Steamboats,  first  on  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi, 123;  speed  and  rates  of,  l6or 
162,  163. 

Stephenson,  Benjamin,  delegate  in  Con- 
gress, 113. 

Stuart,  Judge  Alexander,  in,  113. 

Stuart,  John  T.,  mention,  207. 

Suffrage,  qualifications,  77,  7S,  1 12-14, 
117,  147,  14S. 

Sugar,  maple,  129. 

Supreme  Court,  U.S.,  decision  of,  ir 


21 


266 


SETTLEMENT   OF    ILLINOIS. 


Talbott,  Benjamin,  leg.  coun.,  113. 
Tallmadge,   James,  opposes  admission 

of  Illinois,  118,  179. 
Tamarois,  Indians,  no. 
Tardiveau,  Bartholomew,  51,  52,  55,  69. 
Tavern-keepers  (housekeepers)    given 

freehold  privileges,  147. 
Tavern-sites,  land  ceded  for,  75,  79. 
Taxation,  in  N.-W.  terr.,  83;  of  land, 

130,  133;  of  live-stock,  83. 
Taylor,  Zachary,  mention,  207, 
Tazewell,  L.  W. ,  mention,  209. 
Tea,  price  of,  130. 
Teachers,  salaries  of,  174. 
Tennessee,  lands  sold  for  taxes,  189. 
Tennessee  wagon,  155. 
Thomas,  "Judge  Jesse  B.,  signs  petition 

for  retention  of  slavery  in  Illinois, 

in,  178;  territorial  judge,  113,  145.- 
Timber,  want  of,  131. 
Todd,  Col.  John,  Jr.,  15,  16  et  seq. 
Toll  roads,  157. 
Tomahawk  rights,  51. 
Trading  firms:  Baynton,  Wharton  and 

Morgan,  10;  British  Michilimackinac 

Company,  49. 
Trammell,  Philip,  rep.,   1 13. 
Transportation, 

cost:  via  canals,  141 ;  via  rivers,  124, 
125,  126,  160; 

improvement  in  facilities,  157; 

land,  93,   126,  154-7,  161 ; 

water,  S3,  92  et  seq.,  114,  126,  129. 

See  also  River  craft,  Wagons. 
Treaties:  —  Fort    Wayne,     1803,     79; 

Greenville,  1795,  79;  St.  Louis,  1804, 

Si;  Spain-  U.  S.,  commercial  treaty, 

73;  Vincennes,  1S03,  79;  1S05,  81. 
Trottier,  F.,  36. 
Turbine  wheel,  167. 
Turner,  Frederick  Jackson,  5. 
Turnpike,  93. 

U 

United  States  Supreme  Court  decision, 
1 1. 


Yandalia,    mention,    1S8,     189;    land- 
office  at,  207;  public  lands  sold,  137. 
Vegetables,  168. 


Vehicles,  152,  155,  156;  emigrant  wag- 
ons, 159,  164;  Tennessee  wagon,  155. 

Vermilion  saline,  142. 

Vincennes,  accept  inducements  of  Mor- 
gan, 63;  attack  on,  32,  73;  court,  17, 
59;  description  of,  13;  levy  of  troops 
at,  54;  treaty,  1803,  79;  treaty,  1805, 
Si.     See  also  Post  Vincennes. 

Virginia,  Augusta  county,  15;  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  the  Settlement 
of  Western  Accounts,  42-44;  cedes 
Western  lands  to  the  United  States, 
45,  46;  emigration  from,  to  Illinois, 
91,  92,  190,  201 ;  legislation  for  pro- 
tection of  Illinois  county,  9;  military 
bounty  lands,  46;  money,  21,  23,  24. 

Vote,  August  2,  1S24,  1S3;  chart  of, 
184. 

W 

Wabash  Land  Company,  10  et  seq.,  88. 

WT abash  Navigation  Company,  200. 

Wabash  river,  boundary  line,  90,  154; 
expedition  on,  41 ;  landholders  on, 
10,  87,  88. 

WTages,  96,  169. 

Wagons,  first,  Galena  to  Chicago,  152. 
See  also  Vehicles. 

Wrar  of  1812,  106  et  seq.;  mention,  118. 

Water  supply,  86. 

Wayne  county,  separated  from  Illinois, 
86. 

Wea.     See  Ouia. 

West,  The,  Commerce  of,  96. 

Western  Christian  Monitor,  mention, 
197. 

Western  frontier.  See  Frontier;  also 
Wilderness. 

Western  Intelligencer,  132. 

Western  Territory,  Ordinance  for  gov- 
ernment of,  46. 

Westward  movement,  190. 

Wharton,    ,    member    of    trading 

firm,   10. 

Wheat,  price  of,  164. 

Wheeling,  Va.,  Committee  of  Work- 
ingmen,  144. 

Wild  animals,  14. 

Wilderness,  description  of,  86;  men- 
tion, 95.     See  also  Frontier. 

Wilderness  Road,  93. 

Wilkins,  John,  British  Commandant  in 
Illinois,  IO. 


INDEX. 


267 


Wilkinson,  Gen.  James,  204. 
Williams,  Maj.,  39. 
Wilson,  Alexander,  rep.,  113. 
Winnebago  Indians,  135,  151. 
Winnebago  war,  135,  146,  207. 
Winston,    Richard,    17,    18;   sheriff  at 

Kaskaskia,  26,  41,  61. 
Wirt,  William,  mention,  209. 
Wisconsin,  southern  boundary,  150. 
Wisconsin,  State  Historical  Society  of, 

11. 
Wolves,  14;  bounty  for,  84,  148. 


Wood,  scarcity  of  retards  settlement, 

165. 
Wyllys,  Maj.,  69. 


Yorkshire,  England,    emigrants  from, 
reach  Jacksonville,  189. 


Zewapetas,  63. 


I 


